During the January-May period of the current year, the aggregate gross profit of large and medium-sized Chinese industrial enterprises amounted to RMB 1.8434 trillion ($289.8 billion), down 2.4 percent year on year, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics. In May alone, the enterprises in question achieved a total gross profit of RMB 390.9 billion ($61.5 billion), declining by 5.3 percent compared with the same month last year.
In the January-May period, 26 of the 41 main industrial sectors in China witnessed an increase in gross profit, while 13 sectors saw a decrease in profit, among which the domestic steel sector recorded a 56.9 percent decline year on year in gross profit.