BEIJING — Profits of China's major industrial firms totaled 612.81 billion yuan (about $90 billion) in August, increasing by 19.1 percent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Sept 27.

The growth narrowed 0.5 percentage points from July.

In the first eight months of the year, the profits of major industrial firms declined 4.4 percent to 3.72 trillion yuan, narrowing 3.7 percentage points from the January-July period.

Profits of State-controlled industrial firms dropped 17 percent from one year earlier to 950.94 billion yuan, while those of private ones shrank 3.3 percent year-on-year to 1.07 trillion yuan.

During the January-August period, profits of the mining industry slumped 38.1 percent, and manufacturing industry profits decreased by 1 percent.

Profits in 16 of the 41 surveyed industrial sectors rose compared with the same period last year, while 25 sectors saw their profits fall, according to the NBS.

Major industrial companies refer to those with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan.