简体中文
Profits for China's major industrial companies climbed by 10.1 percent year on year to 646.43 billion yuan (about $96.5 billion) in September, narrowing 9 percentage points from August, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed on Tuesday.
Monthly profits saw growth for the fifth straight month, as business activities continued to recover from the coronavirus-induced slump.
The production and sales of major industrial companies recovered rapidly, and the supply-demand relationship continued to improve, and profits increased quarter by quarter, said Zhu Hong, a senior statistician at the NBS.
The profits of major industrial enterprises dropped 36.7 percent in the first quarter, and reversed a downturn trend to 4.8 percent in the second quarter, and picked up pace to grow 15.9 percent in the third quarter, according to NBS.
In the third quarter, profit growth of the auto industry rose by 53.8 percent year on year, and the profit of the general equipment manufacturing industry increased by 32.4 percent year on year, NBS data showed.
Weaker industrial profit growth in September was mainly due to changes in industrial product prices and rising expenses, and the narrowing of profit growth in electronics and auto industries also has an impact, Zhu explained.
China's economic recovery gathered pace in the third quarter of 2020, with GDP growth in July-September registering at 4.9 percent from a year earlier, boosted by investment and exports.
China's Q3 GDP grows 4.9%, economic recovery picks up pace
"Despite weaker industrial profit growth in September, we believe China's recovery is still largely on track and maintain our real growth forecast of 5.7 per cent year on year for the fourth quarter. We believe Beijing will neither ease further nor start to tighten in the near term," said economists from Nomura.
In the first nine months of the year, the profits of major industrial firms declined by 2.4 percent on an annual basis to 4.37 trillion yuan, better than a 4.4-percent fall from the January-August period.
Profits of state-controlled industrial companies fell 14.3 percent in the first nine months compared with a year ago to 1.13 trillion yuan, while those of private ones dropped 0.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.27 trillion yuan.
Profits of the mining industry plunged 37.2 percent during the January-September period, and that of the manufacturing industry rebounded by gaining 1.1 percent.
Among the 41 industrial sectors under the NBS measurement, 21 sectors saw profits rise in the first three quarters, and 20 sectors suffered profits decline.
"Although the profits of industrial enterprises continued to recover steadily in the first three quarters, the accumulative operating income and profits have not returned to growth, while the increase rates of accounts receivable and finished goods inventory were still high, meaning the foundation for continued improvement in industrial profit still needs to consolidate," Zhu cautioned.
Major industrial companies in the country refer to those with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan.
China's industrial profits up 19.1% in Aug. thanks to virus control and policy support
(Cover image via VCG)
