China's industrial profits up 0.5% in first eight months

Profits of China's major industrial firms grew 0.5 percent year on year in the January-August period, slowing down from a 3.6-percent rise in the first seven months of 2024, official data showed Friday.

The National Bureau of Statistics said this moderation in growth is attributed to insufficient effective market demand, the impact of high temperatures, heavy rains and floods in some regions of China, and a high base figure.

Despite such challenges, industrial profits continued their growth trend. The bureau added that new growth drivers like high-tech manufacturing maintained relatively fast growth while high-quality development of the industrial economy continued to advance steadily.

During this period, the high-tech manufacturing sector saw profits soar 10.9 percent year on year, outpacing the overall industrial average by 10.4 percentage points.

Consumer goods and equipment manufacturing reported stable growth, bolstered by a steady recovery in domestic consumption and a relatively fast rise in industrial product exports.

Profits of consumer goods manufacturers expanded 8.4 percent year on year, and the equipment manufacturing sector posted a profit rise of 3.2 percent compared with a year earlier.

The bureau warned that the foundation of the recovery in industrial profits needs to be further consolidated, as domestic demand remains weak and the external environment continues to be complex.

Looking forward, the bureau urged more efforts to foster new growth drivers and expand effective domestic demand, with a push to promote large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins.