Profits of China's major industrial enterprises fell by 37.3 percent year on year in the first two months, as the world's fastest growing economy slowed down, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

The sharp decline was in line with expectations of analysts, who said drops in producer prices in the first two months would have a direct impact on industrial profits.

China's producer price index (PPI) was down by 3.3 percent in January and 4.5 percent in February, the lowest since the second half of 2002.

The country's large industrial enterprises, with more than 5 million yuan in annual income, raked in profits of 219.1 billion yuan (US$32.2 billion) in the first two months, according to the NBS.

The biggest drop in profits was reported with state-owned enterprises, down 59.2 percent year on year to 56.7 billion yuan.

The oil and natural gas exploration sector saw profits decline 86.1 percent and profits from the power generating firms were down 77 percent.

The electronic and telecommunications equipment manufacturing sector reported the biggest drop of 96.3 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2009)