China’s industrial profit fell at slower pace in May, improving for 3rd straight month

 

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Chinese industrial companies’ profit reached 2.69 trillion yuan in the first five months of the year, sliding 18.8% from the same period last year, narrowing from the 20.6% drop for the first four months of the year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

In breakdown, mining companies’ profit reached 591.9 billion yuan during the period, sliding 16.2% from a year earlier; manufacturing industry’s profit reached 1.8 trillion yuan, slumping 23.7%; while electricity, heating, gas and water supply companies’ profit reached 247.3 billion yuan, surging 34.8%, according to the data.

In May alone, industrial profits reached 635.8 billion yuan, sliding 12.6% from a year earlier, narrowing by 5.6 percentage points from the previous month and improving for the third consecutive month, according to the data.

China’s equipment manufacturing industry’s profits maintained a rapid growth and the structure of industrial profits continued to improve, said Sun Xiaom, statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics.

The equipment manufacturing industry’s profits rose 15.2% year over yer in May, growing at a double-digit growth for the second consecutive month and that drove the overall industrial profit growth by 4.6 percentage points, making it the biggest contributor, he said. 

Equipment manufacturing industry’s profits accounted for 39.6% of the overall industrial profit, rising by 5.3 percentage points from April, indicating that the industrial profit’ structure improved further, he said.

China’s automobile manufacturing industry’s profit surged 1.02 times on year in May driven by accelerated auto sales, robust new energy vehicle production and sales and increasing investment returns, said Sun.

Electrical machinery industry’s profits surged 27.3% driven by solar equipments and lithium batteries; while the general equipment industry, special equipment industry and instruments and apparatus industry rose by 30.9%, 27.7% and 26.6%, respectively, according to the NBS.

Overall speaking, Chinese industrial companies’ profits continued to recover, but the external environment is getting more complex and severe, and domestic demand remains insufficient, which restricts the further recovery of industrial profits and the foundation of the recovery is still not solid, said the NBS.

In the next stage, China will focus on expanding effective demand, improve connections between production and sales, and continuously strengthen the development momentum to promote the industrial economy to consolidate, it said.