A worker works at a touchscreen producing workshop of Jiangsu Huake Chuangzhi Technology Co., Ltd. at Suqian Laser Industrial Park in Suqian City, east China's Jiangsu Province, May 13, 2020. There are over 50 laser-related companies so far in the park, among which some involves in laser cutting, laser marking and laser medical equipment. Local authorities have introduced measures to attract more laser industries to the park and support the building of a complete industry chain in laser's research and development, equipment manufacturing as well as processing and application. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

 Profits of China's industrial firms above designated scale contracted in April but at a slower pace than last month, with more than half of the sectors seeing growth, suggesting domestic production is being gradually resumed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

China's industrial firms earned 478.14 billion yuan ($66.95 billion) in April, down 4.3 percent on a yearly basis, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.  

The decline narrowed 30.6 percentage points from March.

NBS senior statistician Zhu Hong attributed the narrowed decline to the further resumption of China's economic and social order, saying that benefited industrial production and helped companies improve earnings. The country has been working to prevent and control the virus and has carried out a series of policies to advance development, Zhu said.

In April, 23 sectors among 41 major industries reported growths in profits, including instruments and apparatus, general equipment, food manufacturing and metalware sector. That number in March was only 8.

As China has further advanced its resumption of work and production, and some supportive policies have taken effect, market demand for industries like auto, special equipment, electric apparatus and electronics have rebounded with increased orders.

In April, profits of the Chinese vehicle industry rose 29.5 percent year-on-year, compared with March's 80.4 percent decline, and the above-mentioned four industries' contribution to the country's industrial profits was up 19.7 percentage points month-on-month, according to the NBS.

But the situation is still not optimistic when looking at the January to April period, as domestic industrial profits were down 27.4 percent year-on-year to around 1.26 trillion yuan, NBS data showed. The decrease is 9.3 percentage points less than the first quarter.

Although improvements were seen in April, accumulated profits of industrial enterprises are still falling sharply as market demand has not completely resumed and the price of industrial products continues to decline, and their profit situation is not optimistic, Zhu noted.

Zhu said that in the next step, more efforts will be made to actively implement supportive policies for domestic companies to stabilize their economic fundamentals and promote the recovery of the industrial economy.