(Yicai Global) April 27 -- Industrial enterprises above designated size in China recorded revenue growth for the first time after four straight months of contraction in March due to the sound macroeconomic conditions and demand recovery.

Revenues of firms above designated scale climbed 0.6 percent on average in March from a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed today. However, profits fell over 19 percent, even though narrowing the pace of decline. More than half of the 41 sectors improved their performance.

Profits shrank sharply with great losses, but year-over-year decreases in upstream product prices can help improve the profitability of downstream industries, said Sun Xiao, statistician at the NBS.

This year has been sluggish for large firms. In the first quarter, profits of industrial enterprises tallied more than CNY1.5 trillion (USD217 billion) in the first quarter, down by more than 21 percent YoY.

However, some sectors were doing better. The equipment manufacturing industry rebounded the most as profits fell only 7 percent last month after an average of a 26.1 percent decrease in January and February, according to Sun. The bureau compares March to the two months due to the holiday season of Chinese New Year which usually falls in January or February.

Automotive was another outlier. Driven by demand recovery and rebounds in production and sales, the vehicle manufacturing industry reported a 9.1 percent profit increase, versus a YoY drop of 41.7 percent in the first two months of this year.

Seven of the 13 consumer goods manufacturing industries earned more profits in March compared with the prior two months. The fields of wine, beverage, and refined tea achieved nearly 40 percent profit growth.

Foreign-funded firms are benefiting from China’s measures to stabilize foreign investment and trade. Investment enterprises funded by foreign countries and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as Taiwan province, reported better performance in March as profit declines narrowed to 7.1 percent YoY, after a nearly 36 percent YoY decrease in the previous two months.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi