China's industrial profits continued to decline in January to March period as falling prices and weaker demand dragged profit margins, official data showed on Thursday.
Industrial profits decreased 21.4 percent in the first quarter from the last year, the National Bureau of Statistics reported.
This was much bigger than economists' forecast of 12.0 percent decrease and also followed a drop of around 23.0 percent in January to February period.
Official data released earlier this month showed that industrial production advanced 3.9 percent in March, which was better the 2.4 percent growth logged in January to February.
