INDUSTRIAL enterprises in China's 24 regions reported a year-on-year surge of 102.6 percent in combined profits of 690.8 billion yuan (US$101.2 billion) in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement yesterday.

The bureau did not provide reasons for the profit increase. The figure was down 21.1 percentage points for the first two months of the year.

Analysts attributed the growth to a low comparison base during the first quarter of 2009 when the country's economic growth was dragged down by the global economic downturn.

The economic recovery, backed by government stimulus measures, also helped lift profits.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in a statement last week that industrial production in the first quarter had accelerated and profits of enterprises continued to expand on growing domestic demand.

Altogether 38 of the 39 major industrial sectors saw annual rise in profits, with those of the steel industry up 3,380 percent and those of the power sector up 1,540 percent, the statement said.

The tobacco industry saw a 10.6-percent fall in profit.

Core revenues of the companies were 11.58 trillion yuan in the first quarter, up 39.6 percent from a year earlier. The growth rate was 1.5 percentage points down from that of the first two months.

The 24 regions comprise China's provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions except Inner Mongolia and Tibet autonomous regions, and Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan and Yunnan provinces, and Chongqing.