Beijing, September 28

Profits at China’s major industrial companies saw their biggest declines in four years last month, data showed today, the latest sign of weakness in world’s second-largest economy.

The figures came after a string of poor data showing slowing pace of traditional drivers of China’s growth sent shockwaves through markets worldwide.

Profits at a range of large firms declined by almost nine per cent last month compared to the same period in 2014, the country’s statistics office said.

The profit falls at a range of companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan were the biggest in about four years, Bloomberg News said.

“Market demand for industrial products was rather weak,” said He Ping, an analyst at China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

Months of declines in China’s stock markets have caused ‘the boost of return on investment to profit to wane sharply’, He added.

China’s economy expanded 7.3 per cent last year, the weakest pace in almost 25 years.

The government has vowed to rebalance the economy away from reliance on exports and government investment towards domestic consumption as a driver of growth.The industrial profit figures exclude firms in China’s service sector.