Major Chinese industrial firms saw their combined profits rise 6.3% year-on-year in June, slowing from the 15.5-percent rate seen in May, official data showed on July 27.

The profits of industrial companies with annual revenues of more than CNY 20 million (US$3.24 million) hit CNY 502.42 billion in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement.

In the first six months, their profits rose 11.1% to CNY 2.58 trillion (US$ 418.75 billion), slowing from the 12.3-percent rate seen in the first five months.

The drop in June industrial profits was mainly due to the slow-down in enterprise business revenue growth, higher costs and relatively higher base for the year-on-year comparison, said He Ping, an analyst with the NBS.

In breakdown, private businesses led the growth, with their combined profits up 15.8% year-on-year in the first half year, while state-run enterprises saw their combined profits up 4.8% during the period, according to the statement published by the NBS on its website.

Among 41 industries surveyed, 30 reported year-on-year profit growth in the first half year, while eight saw profit decline.

The three sectors of coal exploitation, nonferrous metal smelting and ferrous metal smelting reported remarkable decreases in profits, He said.