China's industrial profit growth slows further

China's industrial enterprises posted year-on-year profit growth of 24.4 percent in the first 11 months of 2011, pulling back further from the year's previously recorded figures, official data showed Tuesday.

Growth in the January-November period was 0.9 percentage point lower from that of the first 10 months, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Profits realized in the first 11 months amounted to 4.66 trillion yuan (736 billion U.S. dollars), the NBS said.

In November alone, industrial profits expanded 17.9 percent year-on-year to 542.1 billion yuan, the NBS said.

The NBS compiled the figures using data collected from a pool of industrial businesses with at least 20 million yuan in annual sales revenue each.

Among 39 industries surveyed, 36 sectors reported year-on-year profit growth, with that of non-ferrous metals and coal surging 59.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the oil refining, coking and nuclear-fuel processing sector saw profits plunge 97.8 percent year-on-year. Telecommunications equipment, computer and other electronic device manufacturers suffered a 1.5-percent profit slide, while that of electric and thermal power dropped 8.3 percent.

Private businesses logged the fastest profit growth, with a year-on-year rise of 46.2 percent, followed by collectively-owned enterprises (32.5 percent), equity-holding companies (29.9 percent), state-owned enterprises (13.5 percent) and overseas-funded firms (10 percent).