China’s Industrial Profits Slip 1.5% in July

Source Credit : CNBC

China’s industrial profits slipped 1.5% from a year earlier in July, marking a notable recovery following months of steeper declines as Beijing’s campaign against price wars helped improve companies’ margins.

Profits at major industrial firms fell 1.7% in the first seven months this year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

State-backed industrial firms saw their bottom line drop 7.5% in the January to July period from a year earlier, while businesses with foreign investments saw profits increase by 1.8%.

Profits in the mining industry plunged 31.6% from a year earlier, while the manufacturing sector and utilities industry — for electricity, heat, gas and water supply — saw their profits improve by 4.8% and 3.9% from a year ago, respectively.

Yu Weining, a statistician at the statistics bureau, attributed the narrower profit declines to Beijing’s policies aimed at recovering consumer price levels, which improved profitability for companies.