Robert Besser
28 Mar 2023, 15:48 GMT+10
BEIJING, California: As the world's second-largest economy is still struggling to fully recover from the long-term effects of COVID-19, most notably soft demand and high costs, Chinese industrial firms' profits continued to dampen during the first two months of 2023.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data released this week showed a sharp 22.9 percent contraction after a 4.0 percent fall in industrial profits in 2022.
The decline is due to ongoing soft demand, despite a rise in industrial output, said NBS statistician Sun Xiao on the bureau's website.
Zhou Maohua, analyst at China Everbright Bank, said that due to a moderation in overall demand, production costs, fading auto subsidies and price wars, there was a decline in auto sector profits, which significantly stifled manufacturing profits.
"Currently, international commodity prices remain at high levels and overseas demand is still on a downtrend," Zhou said, as quoted by the Associated Press.
According to a breakdown of the $128.92 billion profits, foreign firms recorded a 35.7 percent decline in profits, while private-sector firms reported a 19.9 percent drop in profits.
This week's data is in line with a series of economic indicators that show an uneven recovery after the three-year battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data released earlier this month indicated that factory output growth accelerated to 2.4 percent in January-February, slightly less than a 2.6 percent rise forecasted in a Reuters poll of analysts.
Additionally, Chinese property investment continued to decline despite robust government support, but retail sales returned to growth.
At this month's annual parliamentary gathering, Beijing had aimed to return the economy to recover and set a modest growth target of some 5 percent for this year.
To help support the country's economic recovery, this month China's central bank unexpectedly reduced the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves, for the first time this year.
Get a daily dose of Jamaican Times news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Jamaican Times.
More InformationDETROIT, Michigan: This week, the United Auto Workers (UAW) expanded its members' strike to include dealers selling and servicing General ...
TOKYO, Japan: Toyota Motor (7203.T) is ramping up its production of electric vehicles (EVs) under both the Toyota and luxury ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: After consumer complaints of oil pump failures, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation ...
NEW YORK, New York - With no major news Monday, and nothing on the horizon, U.S. stocks remained little moved, ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: In a small but rare reduction to its headcount, which has grown steadily since 2010, the US Federal ...
CAMP HILL, Pennsylvania: This week, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Rite Aid could shut down some 400 to ...
BEIJING, China: Local authorities said a fire at the Shanjiaoshu coal mine in Guizhou province, southern China, killed 16 people ...
MADISON, Wisconsin: Last week, five flamingos were seen along a Lake Michigan beach in Wisconsin, attracting a large crowd of ...
LONDON, UK: The UK government said over the weekend that it could downscale the scope of the High Speed 2 ...
LAHAINA, Hawaii: This week, officials are expected to begin lifting restrictions on entry to the burn zone in Lahaina, Hawaii, ...
LONG ISLAND, New York: On Thursday, a bus carrying members of a high school marching band traveling to a music ...
GAINESVILLE, Florida: Local police report stopping children, ages 10 and 11, who had driven their family car 200 miles, in ...