BEIJING - Profit growth at major Chinese industrial firms slows sharply to 5.3 percent in 2012, compared with the 25.4-percent rise registered in 2011, official data showed Sunday.

Profits at industrial companies with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan (3.17 million U.S. dollars) totaled 5.56 trillion yuan last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

In December alone, those companies' combined profits climbed 17.3 percent year on year to reach 895.2 billion yuan.