A Chinese flag is seen in the Lujiazui financial district of Pudong in Shanghai, China, on September 18, 2023.
Raul Arellano | Bloomberg | Getty Images
China's industrial profits grew at a faster pace in June even as companies grappled with sagging consumer sentiment amid a fragile economic recovery, official data showed on Saturday.
Profits rose 3.6% year-on-year last month after a 0.7% increase in May, while first-half profits rose 3.5%, accelerating from a 3.4% increase in the January-May period, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
The strong data contrasted with a weaker-than-expected economic slowdown in the second quarter, as consumers were downbeat amid labor market problems and a prolonged slowdown in the housing market.
Nearly half of the more than 10 mainland-listed alcoholic beverage companies that issued first-half earnings forecasts expect to post losses in the first half.
However, despite escalating trade tensions with the West, optical transceivers Zhongji Innolight and Suzhou TFC Optical Communication are expecting multi-fold increases in first-half earnings, as the two suppliers to the US chip giant Nvidia They turn out to be big winners from building global AI.
China is trying to roll out heavier monetary stimulus to shore up its fragile economy, surprising markets for a second time on Thursday with an unscheduled lending operation at sharply lower interest rates. Just days earlier, authorities had cut several benchmark lending rates following a top leadership meeting that laid out plans for other major reforms.
The country's state planning agency and finance ministry on Thursday announced plans to arrange about 300 billion yuan of funds from long-term special treasury bonds to step up a nationwide equipment upgrade and consumer goods trade campaign.
State-owned enterprises saw profits rise 0.3% in the first half of the year, foreign companies saw an 11% increase, and private sector firms saw a 6.8% increase, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
The industrial profit figures include companies with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.75 million) from their main operations.
