China's industrial profit decline narrows in June

Profits at China's major industrial firms shrank at a slower pace in June with supportive policy measures gradually taking effect, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

NBS data showed that industrial enterprises with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) each saw their total profits drop by 8.3 percent year-on-year in June after a 12.6 percent decline in May.

For the first half of this year, industrial firms' profits fell 16.8 percent year-on-year to 3.39 trillion yuan, narrowing from the 18.8 percent drop recorded in the first five months, the bureau said.

Among the 41 industries surveyed, 30 sectors saw improvement in profits in the first six months compared with that in the first quarter.

During the first half, profits recorded by industrial firms that offer supply of electricity, heat, gas and water grew by 34.1 percent year-on-year, while profits recorded by mining firms and manufacturing companies shrank by 19.9 and 20 percent, respectively.

Notably, profits of equipment manufacturing enterprises rose by 3.1 percent on a yearly basis during the January-June period, 20.8 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter of 2023, according to the NBS.

Sun Xiao, a statistician at the NBS, said that, while the latest data showed the continued recovery trend in industrial profits, more efforts should be made to expand effective demand, spur market vitality, foster new growth drivers and promote the high-quality development of the industry.

ouyangshijia@chinadaily.com.cn