News of a 119.7% rise in industrial profits in the January-February period comes as many large Chinese companies have issued strong profit expectations ahead of their 2009 earnings results.
However, the statistics bureau also sounded a note of caution against an overly optimistic characterization of the increase in the January-February period, saying that while it indicates economic recovery and growing demand, it is also due to a low base of comparison last year.
"The current industrial profit increase is relatively high, but still is considered to be of a recovering nature," it said in a statement.
Industrial profits had fallen 37.3% in the same period in 2009, the statistics bureau said, adding that profits had "merely" returned to pre-crisis levels.
Wall Street Journal reported the bureau said that, compared with the same period in 2008, industrial profit in the first two months this year was up 17.4% — significantly lower than the 30% average rate over the past 10 years,