China's industrial profits shrink most since late 2011 - Reuters

According to Reuters, the Chinese industrial profits data reported the worst contraction since October 2011 in the first two months of this year.

The figures were combined for January and February to even out distortions caused by the week-long China's Lunar New Year.

Zhu Hong of China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement accompanying the data, noted: “The drag was mainly due to price contractions in key industrial sectors such as auto, oil processing, steel and chemical industries.”

The latest NBS data showed that profits earnt by China’s industrial firms in January-February slumped 14% y/y to CNY 708.01 billion ($105.50 billion).