China's industrial firms see revenue growth in Jan-Nov, profits down

BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's major industrial firms reported stable revenue growth in the first 11 months of the year, but their profit decline continued due to the resurging epidemic, official data showed Tuesday.

The combined revenues of industrial firms with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.88 million U.S. dollars) rose 6.7 percent year on year in the January-November period to 123.96 trillion yuan, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

Their profits in total stood at 7.72 trillion yuan in the period, down 3.6 percent from a year earlier.

"In November, industrial production slowed down, and the pressure on business operations increased due to factors such as the resurgence of the epidemic and the weak demand, but the profit structure continued to improve," said senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong.

If excluding sharp declines in a few enterprises, such as steel and oil processing enterprises, the overall profit growth rate will be 6.6 percent in the January-November period this year, Zhu said.

A total of 20 out of 41 major industries saw growth in profits in the period, up from 19 in the first 10 months.

The oil and gas exploitation sector saw profits jump 1.13 times from the same period last year, while the electric and heat power production and supply and the coal mining and washing sectors reported profit increases of 47.2 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

Equipment manufacturing and basic consumer goods also came as bright spots for the industrial sector.

With a sustained recovery, the combined profits of equipment manufacturers climbed 3.3 percent in the first 11 months, 0.1 percentage points higher than the January-October period. In particular, the electric machinery sector saw its profit surge 29.7 percent thanks to booming new energy development.

The equipment manufacturing sector contributed about a third of the country's total industrial profits in the first 11 months.

Meanwhile, the profits of basic consumer goods companies also logged steady expansion. Producers of alcoholic drinks, tea, and other beverages posted a 21.5-percent profit increase.

In general, the resurging epidemic hampered the recovery of industrial profits in the short term, and the "triple pressure," namely shrinking demand, supply shock, and weakening expectation, still has a great impact on the industrial sector, Zhu said.

Zhu urged efforts to better coordinate the epidemic response and economic and social development, guarantee smooth industrial and supply chains, expand domestic demand, and stimulate the vitality of market entities so as to create more favorable conditions for the stabilization and recovery of the industrial economy.