(Yicai Global) May 27 – China's industrial enterprises posted increased profits in the first quarter of 2017, said the National Bureau of Statistics on its website today. From January to April, industrial enterprise profits above the designated size grew 24.4 percent year-on-year to CNY2.27 trillion (USD330 billion), 3.9 percentage points lower than that in January to March period.

However, the total business revenues of these enterprises hit CNY37.7 trillion from January to April, up 13.5% over the same period last year, according to the data released by the NBS.

In April, profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased 14%, to CNY572.78 billion yuan, 9.8 percentage points lower than March.

China's economy "maintained a steady performance with good growth momentum in April," said an earlier statement on the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) website. The expansion of domestic demand indicated in the NBS's statement on May 15 is the most noteworthy development as China strives for moving away from the manufacture- and export-based economy to a modern consumption one. "The shift between the old and new driving forces" accelerated, the statement pointed out.