BEIJING - Profits of Chinese industrial businesses reached 482.56 billion yuan ($78.45 billion) in August, down 0.6 percent year on year, official data showed on Saturday.

The profit growth slowed sharply compared to the 13.5 percent growth in July.

Total profits of industrial companies during the first eight months reached 3.83 trillion yuan, up 10 percent year on year, however, the growth rate decelerated by 1.7 percentage points from the January-July period, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.