Profits at China's major industrial firms fell during the first eight months in the face of renewed COVID-19 outbreaks and slackening domestic and external demand.

For the January-August period, industrial firms' profits fell 2.1 percent year-on-year to 5.5 trillion yuan ($698 billion), after a 1.1 percent decline in the first seven months of 2022. 

The industrial profit data covers large firms with annual revenues of at least 20 million yuan from their main operations. 

During the first eight months, profits recorded by mining firms grew by 88.1 percent, while profits at manufacturing firms and industrial firms which supply electricity, heat, gas and water shrank by 13.4 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively. 

Due to recovery in the industrial and supply chain, profits of equipment manufacturing enterprises fell by 2 percent on a yearly basis in the first eight months, narrowing from a 5.7 percent decline in the first seven months. Notably, profits at the auto manufacturing enterprises increased by 1.02 times in August, according to the bureau. 

Zhu Hong, a senior statistician with the bureau, warned of difficulties and challenges such as high production and operating costs and uncertainties in the external environment, saying more efforts will be made to fully implement the existing stimulus policy measures, further ease burdens for enterprises and promote the steady growth in the industry.

In August, China's value-added industrial output grew 4.2 percent from a year earlier, while factory-gate inflation eased in August to an 18-month low.