⁍ Profits at China’s industrial firms rose for a fifth straight month in September.

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⁍ But at a slower pace as factory-gate deflation and rising raw materials costs undercut a recovery in the manufacturing sector.

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– China’s industrial profits rose 10.1% in September from a year earlier, the fifth straight month of gains, but the pace of the increase slowed from August’s 19.1%, the National Bureau of Statistics announced today. The fall in factory gate prices, a key indicator of industrial demand, and a rise in raw material costs were partly to blame, Reuters reports. Profits at big industrial firms rose 15.8% in the third quarter, while those at small industrial firms rose 15.8%. For the first nine months of the year, industrial profits fell 2.4% from a year earlier, but that was an improvement over the 4.4% drop seen in the first eight months of the year. “Although industrial profits continued to recover steadily in the first three quarters, cumulative operating profit growth have yet to turn positive, while growth rates of accounts and inventory of finished goods are still high,” a statistician said. “The foundation for continued improvements in corporate profits still needs to be consolidated.”