Major Chinese industrial companies' profits drop 1.6 pct

Profits for major Chinese industrial companies fell 1.6 percent in the first four months of 2012 from the same period last year, China's statistical authority said Sunday.

Total profits for the largest industrial companies, or those with annual revenues of above 20 million yuan (3.17 million U.S. dollars), stood at 1.45 trillion yuan during the first four months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement on its website.

The statement said that April alone saw industrial profits drop 2.2 percent to 407.6 billion yuan from the same period of last year.