State-owned companies' profits fell to 1.02 trillion yuan in the first six months of the year, 11.6 per cent less than in the same period last year, due to higher input costs, the Ministry of Finance said.
For the first four months of this year, combined profit was only 8.6 per cent lower than in the same period last year.
The ministry attributed the fall to input costs rising more quickly than revenue.
But a statement on its website did not indentify how many state firms there were this year or in the past.
State firms in the tobacco, automobile and telecommunications sectors recorded strong profit growth, while those in transportation, chemicals, non-ferrous metals and building materials suffered a big drop, the ministry said, without given percentage changes for individual sectors.
Beijing last week said gross domestic product grew 7.6 per cent from a year ago in the April-June quarter, weaker than the 7.7 per cent economists expected, and a marked slowdown from the 8.1 per cent growth in the first quarter.