BEIJING (Reuters) - Profits earned by China's industrial firms fell 3.1% in June from a year earlier, reversing gains in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday.
The June figure compared with profit growth of 1.1% in May.
For the first half of 2019, profits dropped 2.4% from the same period last year to 2.98 trillion yuan, compared with a 2.3% fall in the first five months.
Industrial firms' liabilities rose 5.6% from a year earlier to 65.1 trillion yuan by end-June, up from a 5.3% rise as of end-May.
Profits of China's industrial companies have been softening since the second half of 2018 as the economy slowed and producer prices weakened. The escalating U.S.-China trade war and cooling global growth have added to the pressure.
Higher government spending on infrastructure projects has supported some companies, however, such as railway equipment makers, miners and metal producers.
The data covers companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan from their main operations.
(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk)
