The profits of surveyed Chinese enterprises reached 3.44 trillion yuan (408.7 billion euros) between January and June, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS).
Last month, the profits of these enterprises fell by 4.3% compared to the same month in 2024, showing a slight improvement from the year-on-year decline of 9.1% recorded in May.
The profits of China’s major industrial firms dropped by 3.3% in 2024, following decreases of 2.3% in 2023 and 4% in 2022.
NBS statistician Yu Weining attributed the annual decline to “multiple factors,” including “still insufficient effective demand, downward pressure on industrial prices, and short-term fluctuations.”
Official data reveals differences between types of companies: profits of state-owned enterprises dropped by 7.6% in the first half of the year, while those of private companies increased by 1.7%, and companies with foreign, Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan investment saw a 2.5% increase.
By sector, profits in agricultural processing grew by 22.8%, compared to a 53% decrease in the coal mining and processing industries.
In June, China concluded a second round of negotiations with the United States aimed at establishing a new framework for trade cooperation, amid a tariff truce agreed upon in May, although without concrete progress.
Meanwhile, authorities have intensified efforts to stimulate domestic demand with fiscal measures and sectoral subsidies, amid an uneven recovery from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the compilation of these statistics, the NBS only considered industrial enterprises with an annual turnover exceeding 20 million yuan (2.6 million euros).
