Profits at China's industrial companies grew at a faster pace in May, led by the power generation, auto, information technology and oil refinery sectors, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.
But it may not be a sign the economy is recovering, analysts said.
Growth of industrial profits accelerated to 15.5 percent from a year earlier in May, compared with a 9.3 percent pace in April and 5.3 percent in May. The profits totaled 470.5 billion yuan (US$75.8 billion) last month.
Yu Jianxun, a researcher at the bureau's industrial department, said the faster profit growth was concentrated in just a few industries, thus it is not evidence of an economic recovery.
"The power generation, auto, information technology and oil refinery sectors accounted for 98.5 percent of the total profits," Yu said. "It shows the majority of industries are still struggling."
Yu said decreasing coal and oil costs led to more profits in power generation and oil refining, while increasing sales benefited the auto and information technology sectors.
A low comparative base also affected the figures.
Industrial profits in May 2012 dropped 6.9 percent year on year, Yu said. That suggests recovery in the world's second-largest economy may remain weak amid slack demand at both home and abroad.
In the January-May period, industrial profits rose 12.3 percent to 2.08 trillion yuan, up from 11.4 percent in the first four months. Growth in revenue was unchanged at 11.9 percent between January and May.