Workers operate on an excavator assembly line in east China’s Shandong Province, June 14, 2023. /CFP
China's industrial profits continued to rebound, with a 11.9 percent year-on-year increase in September - the second consecutive month with a double-digit growth, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.
The data showed that in the first three quarters, industrial profits fell by 9 percent compared to the same period of last year, the decline narrowed 7.8 percentage points compared to the first half of the year.
NBS statistician Yu Weining attributed this trend to the impact of policy support. Yu explained that as market demand continues to improve and industrial production grows steadily, industrial product prices have gradually rebounded, leading to a notable improvement in the revenue of industrial enterprises.
In particular, the profit decline in the raw material manufacturing industries during the first three quarters narrowed by 18.8 percentage points compared to the first half of the year. This helped to slow the overall decline in industrial profits by 6.0 percentage points, making it the industry sector that contributed most to the recovery.
Yu added that profits in the raw material manufacturing industries increased by 60.8 percent in the third quarter, reversing the year-on-year decrease in the second quarter.
Other factors contributing to the recovery included the steady recovery of the economy and the effectiveness of policies aimed at expanding domestic demand. As a result, consumer demand has continued to improve, leading to a significant improvement in the profits of consumer goods manufacturing industries.
In the first three quarters, the decline in profits in consumer goods manufacturing industries narrowed by 7.9 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, with a year-on-year increase of 11.8 percent in the third quarter, up from a decrease in the second quarter.
Looking ahead, Yu called for on-going efforts to consolidate the foundation for industrial profits to enhance high-quality development of the industrial economy.