China’s industrial firms saw their profits drop last month for a fourth straight month, on track for the sharpest annual decline since records began in 2000.
Industrial profits at large Chinese companies fell 7.3 percent last month compared to a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement yesterday. That compares with a Bloomberg Economics forecast for a decline of about 6 percent.
While easing from the double-digit declines in the three previous months, the drop deepened a slide in profits this year to a 4.7 percent decrease over the first 11 months, putting the year on track to be the worst on record for industrial businesses.
Photo: AFP
The results suggest Beijing’s most extensive efforts to revive the economy since the pandemic have had a limited effect in lifting demand. Industrial profits are a vital gauge of the financial health of factories, mines and utilities, shaping their investment decisions in the months to come.
Yu Weining (于衛寧), an NBS statistician, credited the recent stimulus measures for narrowing the profit declines, citing improvements in mining and manufacturing sectors.
“As policies continued to take effect, industrial profits continued to narrow the decline and efficiency improved,” Yu said, adding that the government would further implement pro-growth measures announced at the recent Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing.
A program to subsidize upgrades of household appliances and business equipment boosted profits in the relevant sectors, the NBS said, adding that manufacturers of household cleaning appliances saw profits rise 311.4 percent last month.
Corporate finances have come under pressure as China contends with weak domestic demand and its longest stretch of deflation since 1999. Producer prices remain depressed, and retail sales were weaker last month.
While signs of a tentative recovery have emerged, and China is expected to hit its growth target of about 5 percent this year, new challenges are arising as US president-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office next month.
Trump’s threat of steep tariffs on Chinese goods would further disrupt the country’s export sector, which is already facing increased trade barriers from places such as the EU.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
TECH WINNERS: Taiwan and South Korea reported robust trade, which suggests that they have critical advantages in the rapidly expanding AI supply chain, an official said Exports last month surged to a new high, as booming demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure fueled shipments of advanced technology components, underscoring the nation’s pivotal role in the global semiconductor supply chain. Outbound shipments climbed to US$80.18 billion, the highest ever for a single month, rising 61.8 percent from a year earlier and marking the 29th consecutive month of growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “The surge was driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said. The mass production of next-generation AI computing systems has accelerated procurement across the semiconductor supply
RSS