High-tech and advanced manufacturing sectors continued to drive the growth of the profits of China's major industrial firms in the first five months of this year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday.
Industrial firms with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.93 million U.S. dollars) saw their combined profits reach 3.14 trillion yuan in the January-May period, up 18.8 percent year on year, surpassing the 18.2 percent in the first four months, according to the NBS data, which signal sustained momentum in industrial profitability.
High-tech manufacturing played an outstanding role in the overall profit growth, with profits in the sector surging 44.7 percent year on year in the five-month period, contributing 8.0 percentage points to the overall industrial profit increase.
The profits of major equipment manufacturing enterprises increased by 14.1 percent year on year, contributing 5.2 percentage points to the overall growth. Notably, the electronics industry saw profits jump 103.9 percent and accounted for 43.1 percent to the total profit growth among all major industrial enterprises, making it a pillar of the overall performance. "The industrial efficiency now shows several positive changes. Profitability in some technologically intensive equipment manufacturing sectors, such as general purpose machinery, special purpose machinery, electrical machinery and instrumentation, improved rapidly. These industries have paced up their independent research and development, with their product quality and performance improved remarkably, which supported their profit growth. Emerging industries that rapidly upgrade their technology and products are also seeing notable profit growth. In the electronics and information sector, for example, new smart products that are popular among consumers are becoming new profit growth drivers," said Xu Jianwei, director of the industrial office at the Institute of Industrial and Technological Economics under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
The raw materials manufacturing sector also delivered robust performance in the January-May period, with profits of major enterprises soaring 83.1 percent year on year, contributing 10.2 percentage points to the overall growth. Driven by rising demand for emerging industries such as new energy and artificial intelligence, prices of commodities like copper and aluminum remained at elevated levels, helping the non-ferrous metals industry achieve a 117.1 percent profit surge.
In terms of specific industries, the semiconductor industry chain showed particularly strong momentum. Profits in the electronic special materials manufacturing sub-sector skyrocketed 665.4 percent year on year. Industrial enterprises also benefited from declined unit costs and improved profitability. Experts said that multiple positive factors supported the rapid industrial profit growth in the first five months.
"We have seen steady growth in exports, which strongly supported industrial enterprises in their profit growth. Another factor is that the robust supply-demand dynamics for high-tech products, which represent the direction of the new round of sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation, have also contributed to sustaining rapid profit growth," said Wei Qijia, a researcher at the State Information Center under the NDRC.
High-tech manufacturing leads profit growth in first five months
