China's industrial sector profits fell 3% between January and October as COVID-19 cases surged and authorities imposed further restrictions, including lockdowns in entire regions, negatively impacting economic activities.
Data from the Office for National Statistics revealed on Sunday that industrial profits fell 3% in the first 10 months of 2022 year-on-year, compared with a 2.3% decline in the January-September period.
The data covers large companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) from major operations.
Profits have fallen in 22 of the country's 41 manufacturing sectors, but it has not released figures for each month independently since July.
The industrial sectors that saw the sharpest declines were oil, coal and fuels, whose profits fell 70.9% compared to 67.7% in the first nine months of the year.
"Recent outbreaks of the pandemic are frequenting, recession risks are intensifying in the global economy, and industrial enterprises are facing greater pressure," the office said in a statement.
