China's industrial profits drop 3.5% in the first nine months of 2024

Profits generated by China's industrial firms fell by 3.5% year-on-year to CNY 5,228.16 billion in the first nine months of 2024, a reversal from the 0.4% growth seen in the previous period.

China's industrial profits drop 3.5% in the first nine months of 2024

This decline highlights the challenges of an uncertain economic recovery amid persistent weak demand, deflationary risks, and a downturn in the property sector. Profits dropped in both state-owned enterprises (-6.5% compared to -1.3% in January-August) and the private sector (-9.6% versus 2.6%).

Profits plummet in critical sectors, with non-metallic minerals down 51%, while non-ferrous metals rise 52.5%

Several industries experienced significant profit contractions, including non-metallic minerals (-51.0%), coal mining (-21.9%), machinery (-7.2%), special equipment (-5.5%), chemicals (-4.0%), and automobiles (-1.2%). Additionally, sectors such as petroleum and other fuels and ferrous metal smelting shifted from profit to loss. Conversely, profits increased for non-ferrous metal smelting (52.5%), heat production (13.8%), textiles (11.5%), computer and communications (7.1%), agriculture and food (6.6%), oil and natural gas (0.9%), and general equipment (0.2%). Industrial profits plummeted by 27.1% every month after a 17.8% drop in August.