Commodity prices hit China profits | Business

Booming raw materials prices knocked profit growth at Chinese industrial companies last month, feeding through into the wider economy and fuelling fears of inflation.

Industrial profits were up by 36.4 per cent in May compared with a year earlier to 829.92 billion yuan (£92.6 billion), according to official figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

That compared with a 57 per cent year-on-year increase in April and a rise of 83.4 per cent in the first five months of 2020.

Rising commodity prices are pushing down on margins at Chinese industrial businesses. There are concerns that they are driving global inflation and will force central banks around the world to tighten monetary policy.

The Bank of England said last week that inflation would temporarily rise