BEIJING - Profits of Chinese industrial businesses dipped 0.4 percent year on year to 508.6billion yuan ($82.8 billion) in March, official data showed on Monday.
The decline narrowed sharply from a 4.2 percent slump in the Jan-Feb period, said theNational Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Dragged by the sagging performance in the first two months, China's industrial profits shrankby 2.7 percent in the first quarter to 1.25 trillion yuan.
The bureau's calculations include companies with annual revenues exceeding 20 millionyuan.
NBS statistician He Ping attributed the improvement in March to lower raw material prices andoperating costs, and higher investment returns in industrial businesses.