Chinese industry maintains strong growth

China’s industrial companies saw their combined profits increase by 25.1% in October from a year earlier to 745.4 billion yuan ($119.9 billion), the second-highest gain since December 2011, as elevated commodity prices continued to benefit coal and other mining companies. Earnings for the first 10 months of the year rose 23.3% year-on-year to 6.25 trillion yuan, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on Monday, accelerating from a 22.8% pace in the first nine months. Revenue from main business operations rose at a much slower pace than profit, however, increasing by 12.4% year-on-year in the first 10 months, little changed from the January-September period. Industrial profits jumped 27.7% year-on-year in September, the biggest increase in almost six years, according to Caixin. The data covers companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan from their main operations. Coal, oil and gas, ferrous metals smelting and processing, and chemicals accounted for more than half of profit growth January-October.