China's industrial firms reported a profit of 1.810 trillion Chinese yuan from January to April, down by 3.4% from the year-ago period, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

The decline was roughly the same during the first three months of the year, the NBS said.

Profits made by companies in the utilities sector decreased 8% year over year to 156.04 billion yuan. The manufacturing industry recorded a profit of 1.48 trillion yuan, down 4.7% from the year-ago period.

The country's largest industrial enterprises reported a total profit of 515.39 billion yuan in April, down 3.7% year over year.

As of May 24, US$1 was equivalent to 6.90 Chinese yuan.