PROFITS at China’s State firms fell 9.8 percent in the first 10 months of this year, the Ministry of Finance said Friday, with commodities-linked companies bearing the brunt of the pain.

    The near double-digit fall in profits in January-October from a year earlier was worse than the 8.2 percent drop in the first nine months of the year.

    Combined profits of State-owned enterprises totaled 1.88 trillion yuan (US$294.51 billion) in the January-October period, the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

    “The downward pressure on economic operations remains relatively big,” the ministry said.

    Excluding financial firms, revenues of State firms for the first 10 months fell 6.3 percent from a year earlier to 36.79 trillion yuan, the ministry said.

    Companies in transportation, electronics and power sectors reported a rise in profit in the January-October period while coal, steel and non-ferrous metal sectors continued to suffer losses.

    Annual growth in profits of China’s State-owned firms slowed to 3.4 percent in 2014 from 5.9 percent the previous year as factories struggled to cope with falling prices amid an economic slowdown.(SD-Agencies)