Employees work on the production line of solar panels at a workshop of Jiangsu DMEGC New Energy Co., Ltd. on July 22, 2025 in Suqian, Jiangsu Province of China. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images Profits at China's industrial firms grew at their fastest pace in six months in March, even as the Middle East war upended global oil markets and sent raw material costs soaring. Industrial profits jumped 15.8% from a year earlier in March, the sharpest growth since September last year, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday, accelerating from the 15.2% surge in the first two months of this year. In the first three months this year, enterprise profits expanded 15.5%, the fastest start to any year since 2017 , barring the pandemic-driven spike in 2021. Yu Weining, chief statistician at NBS, said the accelerated overall profit growth was largely driven by the equipment and high-tech manufacturing sectors, which saw profits soar 21% and 47.4% in the first quarter, respectively.…