China on Friday reported a further slowdown in industrial profit growth due in part to the nation's ongoing campaign to save energy and cut emissions.

Profits of major industrial enterprises in 24 provinces grew 51.6 percent in the first 10 months year on year to 2.8 trillion yuan (US$427.1 billion), 1.9 percentage points lower than that for Jan-Sept, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website.

In the first nine months, industrial profits decelerated by 2.8 percentage points from the Jan-Aug period.

Core business revenue of those enterprises rose by 32.1 percent year on year to 45.3 trillion yuan in the first 10 months.

Among the 37 industries surveyed, 24 reported slower profit growth during Jan-Oct than the first nine months.

Profits of power plants, chemical fiber and non-ferrous metal producers more than doubled, while that of oil, coke and nuclear fuel processors slumped by 8.2 percent from the same period a year ago.

Since early this year, the government has strongly promoted its energy saving campaign in order to meet the target of improving energy efficiency by 20 percent from 2005 to 2010.

Nationwide efforts have been stepped up to eliminate outdated production capacity, which have been blamed for pollution and hindering the upgrading of industries.

China has promised to cut its carbon intensity by 40-45 percent by the year 2020 compared with the 2005 level.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2010)