Profits at Chinese industrial companies surged last month, fuelled by rising commodity prices and a buoyant real estate market, but analysts warn that profit growth remains heavily reliant on government stimulus and smokestack industries.

Industrial profits increased 14.5 per cent in November from a year earlier, China’s statistics bureau said yesterday, the second-fastest monthly growth since June 2014. But the agency cautioned that growth was “overly reliant” on a price rebound in oil refining, steel and other raw materials. Coal mining profits rose 156 per cent in January through to November from a year earlier.

Strong credit growth, especially mortgages loans, has fed a rally in property prices this year. Fiscal spending on infrastructure has also stoked demand for basic commodities. The price recovery has revived industrial profits, which were in decline for seven straight months through to last December.