Growth of 15.2%! Important data released!

The latest economic data has been released.

On March 27, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that from January to February, industrial enterprises above designated size achieved total profits of 1,024.56 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.2%, with the growth rate accelerating by 14.6 percentage points compared to the entire previous year. Analysts believe that increases in quantity, stable prices, and the recovery of profit margins have jointly driven a significant rebound in the profitability of industrial enterprises. In terms of industry sectors, the equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing industries remain the two major engines driving overall profits, while new momentum significantly boosts profits in relevant raw material manufacturing industries. In this month’s data, over 60% of industries saw a rebound in profits, with improvements observed across large, medium, and small enterprises, but some industries faced profit pressure, such as the automotive manufacturing industry, which saw profits decline by over 30%, while the black metal smelting industry continued to incur losses.

Profits “Leap” with Multiple Indicators Improving Simultaneously

From January to February, industrial enterprises above designated size achieved total profits of 1,024.56 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.2%, with the growth rate accelerating by 14.6 percentage points compared to the entire previous year; gross profit increased by 6.9% year-on-year, remaining flat for the previous year, strongly supporting the rapid growth of profits in industrial enterprises above designated size.

In addition to the “leap” in total profits, multiple indicators also improved simultaneously. In terms of revenue, driven by factors such as accelerated production and a warming product price, from January to February, the operating revenue of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 5.3% year-on-year, an acceleration of 4.2 percentage points compared to the entire previous year.

“The significant improvement in operating revenue growth creates favorable conditions for the recovery of corporate profits,” said Yu Weining, chief statistician of the Industrial Department of the National Bureau of Statistics. At the same time, the unit cost of industrial enterprises has decreased, and profit margins have improved.

Data shows that from January to February, the cost per 100 yuan of operating revenue for industrial enterprises above designated size was 84.83 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.24 yuan; the operating revenue profit margin was 4.92%, an increase of 0.43 percentage points year-on-year.

Among these, compared to historical data, the cumulative costs of industrial enterprises above designated size for the first two months experienced the first year-on-year decline since 2022.

In addition, the profit performance of the three major categories has fully rebounded. Specifically, from January to February, manufacturing grew by 18.9%, accelerating by 13.9 percentage points compared to the entire previous year; mining grew by 9.9%, which was a decline of 26.2% for the entire previous year; and the power, heat, gas, and water production and supply industry grew by 3.7%.

New Momentum Significantly Boosts Profits in Relevant Raw Material Manufacturing Industries

The latest data released indicates that new momentum significantly boosts profits in relevant raw material manufacturing industries. From January to February, driven by the rapid development and increased demand of new momentum-related industries, profits in the raw material manufacturing industry above designated size grew by 88.3% year-on-year, accelerating by 71.1 percentage points compared to the entire previous year.

By industry, the non-ferrous sector saw profit growth of 148.2%, with profits in aluminum rolling processing, non-ferrous metal alloy manufacturing, and copper rolling processing increasing by 264.0%, 205.1%, and 50.8%, respectively; the chemical industry saw profits grow by 35.9%, with inorganic salt manufacturing, inorganic acid manufacturing, and organic fertilizer and microbial fertilizer manufacturing profits increasing by 518.5%, 306.3%, and 38.5%, respectively.

At the same time, the leading role of high-tech manufacturing has strengthened. From January to February, profits in high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size increased by 58.7% year-on-year, accelerating by 45.4 percentage points compared to the entire previous year; this contributed 7.9 percentage points to the profit growth of all industrial enterprises above designated size, with the driving effect enhanced by 5.5 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The equipment manufacturing industry continues to play a “ballast” role. Yu Weining introduced that from January to February, operating revenue in equipment manufacturing industries above designated size grew rapidly, leading to a year-on-year profit increase of 23.5%, accelerating by 15.8 percentage points compared to the entire previous year; profits in equipment manufacturing accounted for 30.4% of all industrial enterprises above designated size, an increase of 2.0 percentage points year-on-year, with the profit structure continuously optimizing.

Some Industries Continue to Face Profit Pressure

In the first two months, among 41 major industrial categories, 24 industries saw year-on-year profit growth, with a growth rate of 58.5%; 26 industries experienced profit growth that accelerated compared to the previous year or narrowed their declines, with the recovery rate exceeding 60%.

By enterprise size, from January to February, medium-sized enterprises in the industrial sector above designated size saw profits increase by 31.5% year-on-year, accelerating by 27.3 percentage points compared to the previous year; large and small enterprises turned from declines of 0.2% and 0.8% in the previous year to growth of 8.7% and 17.1%, respectively.

By enterprise type, state-controlled enterprises saw profits increase by 5.3% year-on-year, compared to a decline of 3.9% for the previous year; private enterprises experienced profit growth of 37.2%, remaining flat for the previous year.

However, not all enterprises saw profit improvements, as foreign and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan-invested enterprises achieved a year-on-year decline of 3.8% in total profits; the automotive manufacturing sector saw a decline of 30.2%, and the black metal smelting and rolling industries continued to incur losses.

Yu Weining stated that the international environment is volatile, and external risks, particularly the spillover risks of geopolitical conflicts, are rising, with many factors of instability and uncertainty. At the same time, the recovery of profits in industry enterprises during the domestic economic transition period remains uneven. In the next stage, it is necessary to continue expanding domestic demand, optimizing supply, and developing new quality productivity in accordance with local conditions.

Proofread by: Yang Shuxin