China factory profit growth quickens as economy recovers

A garment factory in Huaibei, Anhui province. Photo: Reuters

Reuters in Beijing

Annual growth of China’s industrial profits quickened to 22.8 per cent in November from October’s 20.5 per cent, official data showed on Thursday, reinforcing signs of a steady economic recovery thanks to pro-growth policies.

Chinese industrial firms made 638.5 billion yuan (US$102.4 billion), China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement published on its website, www.stats.gov.cn.

A second month of strong double-digit profit growth reinforces the view of analysts that China’s economy has gathered momentum in the fourth quarter. Factory profits rose only 7.8 per cent in September from a year earlier.

Industrial profits in the first 11 months of this year totaled 4.66 trillion yuan, up 3 per cent from a year earlier, the bureau said. For the January-October period, profits had been up only 0.5 per cent from a year earlier.

Among 41 sectors surveyed by the bureau, 30 reported rising profits in the first 11 months, led by a 62.9 per cent jump for power generation firms, a 16.6 per cent rise for food processing firms and 11.5 per cent for telecommunications equipment makers.

But some sectors are still struggling, with profits of ferrous metal smelting firms tumbling 47.9 per cent while earnings of chemical companies falling 10.1 per cent.

In the first 11 months of this year, these firms had losses that were more than four times larger than what they lost a year earlier.

China’s economy is strengthening in the fourth quarter, following seven straight quarters of slower growth, thanks to new pro-growth policies rolled out by the government in recent months, including approvals for US$157 billion worth of infrastructure projects.

According to a Reuters poll, China is on course to achieve growth of 7.7 per cent this year, the slowest full year of expansion since 1999.

Chinese leaders have promised to maintain a “prudent” monetary policy and pro-active fiscal policy next year, leaving room for manoeuvre in the face of global economic risks while deepening reforms to support long-term growth.

Source：【South China Morning Post】