ZCZC
BCN-42
CHINA-INDUSTRIAL-EARNING
China’s industrial profits up 16.5 pct
BEIJING, June 27, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – China’s major industrial firms
posted increased profit growth in the first five months of 2018, official
statistics showed Wednesday.
Profits at China’s major industrial firms grew 16.5 percent in the first
five months, quickening from the 15-percent expansion for the January-April
period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In May alone, combined profits at industrial companies each with annual
revenue of more than 20 million yuan (about 3 million U.S. dollars) went up
21.1 percent year on year, slightly retreating from the 21.9-percent gain in
April.
NBS statistician He Ping attributed the sound growth to the country’s
supply-side structural reforms, which led to falling production costs and
lower leverage ratios.
In the first five months, costs per 100 yuan of revenue dropped 0.35 yuan
from the same period last year, according to He.
The debt-asset ratios of major industrial firms dropped 0.6 percentage
points year-on-year to 56.6 percent by the end of May.
Along with the dropping raw materials cost, rising factory-gate prices
also helped drive the profit growth. In May, the producer price index, a
measure of industrial product inflation, went up 4.1 percent year-on-year,
the highest growth in four months.
Among the 41 industries surveyed, 31 posted year-on-year profit growth
during the first five months.
Manufacturing, which accounted for 84.8 percent of the total industrial
profits, saw the sector’s combined profits expand 13.8 percent. The mining
industry surged 41.6 percent, while those of power generation, heating, fuel
gas and water supply companies went up 26.1 percent.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1435