BEIJING, Oct. 29 -- Chinese industrial profits rose 53.5 percent year on year in the first nine months of 2010, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

That growth rate was 2.8 percentage points lower than that in the first eight months. It was also lower than the 81.6-percent increase recorded in the first five months of the year.

Profits at Chinese industrial enterprises whose annual sales exceed 5 million yuan ($746,268) totaled 2.49 trillion yuan in the nine-month period.

Combined revenues for Chinese industrial enterprises rose 32.6 percent year-on-year to 40.32 trillion yuan in the period.

That growth rate was 1.1 percentage points lower than that in the January-to-August period, the NBS said.

Profits from the power industry rose 170 percent in the period while profits from ferrous metals mining increased 140 percent. Profits from chemical fiber manufacturing rose 120 percent.

In the category of communications equipment, computers and other electronic equipment manufacturing, profits rose 86.1 percent.

Profits from oil and gas exploitation jumped 81.4 percent.

Only one of the 39 industrial categories saw its profits drop - oil refining, coking and nuclear fuel processing. Their profits fell 23 percent.