China’s industrial profits gain momentum as economy ticks up

BEIJING - Profits of China’s major industrial firms maintained an upward momentum in September as production demands have gradually warmed up amid solid efforts to contain

Covid-19 and bolster economic development, official data showed Tuesday.

Profits of the country’s major industrial firms totalled 64.43 billion yuan (about US$96.5 billion) in September, increasing by 10.1 percent year on year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The growth narrowed 9 percentage points from August, said NBS senior statistician Zhu Hong.

Despite pressure from the Covid-19 epidemic as well as the grim and complex domestic and international environment, China’s industrial companies saw a steady recovery in their profits as supply and demand further improved, Zhu said.

In the third quarter, profits in the industrial sector rose 15.9 percent year on year, widening by 11.1 percentage points from that in the second quarter.

A total of 31 of the 41 surveyed industrial sectors reported profit growth in the period, with 24 sectors registering a double-digit increase, said Zhu.

Car manufacturing, nonferrous metal smelting and rolling, and general-purpose equipment manufacturing were among the sectors that saw the most prominent recovery, with profits in the auto industry expanding 53.8 percent year on year, extending the 26-percent increase in the second quarter.

Zhu attributed the growth to policy support in advancing infrastructure construction and boosting consumption, as well as warming investment and increasing consumer demands.

Earlier data from the China Passenger Car Association showed the country’s sales of passenger vehicles, including sedans, sport-utility vehicles, minivans and multipurpose vehicles, rose 7.3 percent year on year to 1.91 million units in September.