China's industrial profits up 16.5% in Jan-May

BEIJING - China's major industrial firms posted increased profit growth in the first five months of 2018, official statistics showed Wednesday.

Profits at China's major industrial firms grew 16.5 percent in the first five months, quickening from the 15 percent expansion for the January-April period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In May alone, combined profits at industrial companies each with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan ($3 million) went up 21.1 percent year-on-year, slightly retreating from the 21.9 percent gain in April.

NBS statistician He Ping attributed the sound growth to the country's supply-side structural reforms, which led to falling production costs and lower leverage ratios.

In the first five months, costs per 100 yuan of revenue dropped 0.35 yuan from the same period last year, according to He.

The debt-asset ratios of major industrial firms dropped 0.6 percentage points year-on-year to 56.6 percent by the end of May.

Along with the dropping raw materials cost, rising factory-gate prices also helped drive the profit growth. In May, the producer price index, a measure of industrial product inflation, went up 4.1 percent year-on-year, the highest growth in four months.

Among the 41 industries surveyed, 31 posted year-on-year profit growth during the first five months.

Manufacturing, which accounted for 84.8 percent of the total industrial profits, saw the sector's combined profits expand 13.8 percent. The mining industry surged 41.6 percent, while those of power generation, heating, fuel gas and water supply companies went up 26.1 percent.