The decline in industrial profits in China narrowed in September, stabilising after a record collapse in the previous month, official figures showed.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced this week that profits earned by industrial companies in the country – with an annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan (US$3.15 million) – fell 0.1 percent year-on-year in September.

In August, the industrial profits had plunged 8.8 percent from the prior-year period, the biggest decline since the Central Government began releasing the monthly data in October 2011.

“Even though the rate of industrial losses narrowed in September, given that downward pressure on the industrial economy continues, the industrial profit outlook is still not optimistic,” the statistics bureau warned in a statement accompanying the results.

In the first nine months of the year, industrial profits are down 1.7 percent from a year earlier.