Growth of industrial profits in China slowed slightly in May compared with the previous month. But the National Bureau of Statistics says positive changes have emerged in China’s industrial sectors.

The bureau says the profits of Chinese industrial companies rose 3.7 percent year on year to 537 billion yuan (about U.S.$81 billion) in May compared with 4.2 percent growth in April. Profits rose 6.4 percent in the first five months of this year from the same period last year.

The bureau says performance was uneven across sectors. China’s energy and raw material sectors saw a resumption in growth while profits in the mining sector fell sharply from a year earlier.