CHINA'S industrial companies posted a slower growth in profit in March as rising production costs continued to eat into their net income.

Their net profit expanded 32 percent annually to 1.06 trillion yuan (US$162.5 billion) in the first quarter, slower than the pace of 34.3 percent between January and February, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

That compared with the rate of more than 40 percent a year ago.

"Higher prices of raw materials are blamed for a slower profit growth in past months," said Li Maoyu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities Co. "Also, China plans to accelerate economic restructuring and promote greener development that will weigh on the profits of some manufacturers in the future."

Prices of raw materials and commodities, including crude oil, coal and cotton, have been rising globally.

China's Producer Price Index, the factory-gate gauge of inflation, climbed 7.3 percent from a year earlier in March, while the index was steady at 7.1 percent in the first quarter.

Of the 39 industries tracked by the bureau, 37 said their profit increased from a year earlier through March. Net income of oil and natural gas exploration firms rose 33.1 percent, up from the pace of 18.7 percent in the first two months, on the back of surging oil prices.

Profit of foreign-invested manufacturers and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan firms jumped 19.9 percent to 292 billion yuan through March, while private industrial firms' net income soared 50.2 percent to 269.1 billion yuan. State-owned enterprises' profit gained 24.6 percent to 364.8 billion yuan.