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June 28, 2016

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Home » Business » Manufacturing

Industrial profits expand slowly in May

CHINA’S manufacturers posted a slower growth in profits in May but inventory pressure continued to ease, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Their combined net profit for the month rose 3.7 percent year on year to 537.2 billion yuan (US$80.8 billion), slowing from a 4.2 percent expansion in April, the bureau said.

Their profit for the first five months grew 6.4 percent year on year to 2.4 trillion yuan.

But the companies saw growth in profit from their core business — a major source of overall profits — accelerate to 3.4 percent in May from 2.5 percent in April.

However, their inventory of industrial products fell for the second consecutive month by 1.1 percent year on year.

“Despite the slower pace of growth in May, we noticed some positive changes in the corporate profitability,” said He Ping, a researcher at the bureau.

The core business of industrial companies improved due to a rise in production and narrower drops in factory output prices, He said.

Other positive signs included recovery in profit growth in May for coal, steel and nonferrous metal industries, while industrial firms’ debt burden eased.

The combined profits of state-owned manufacturers fell 7.3 percent year on year to 429 billion yuan in the first five months, while those of private firms grew 9.4 percent to 848.9 billion yuan, the bureau said.

Profits grew at 32 of the 41 industries tracked, fell in eight, and were flat in one.

The industrial profit data were in line with other economic data for May, which could likely see a slower growth in China’s economy in the second quarter.




 

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