Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on September 28 shows that from January to August, the total profits of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide reached RMB5,271.98 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15.7% (calculated on a comparable basis).

The data shows that rising international crude oil prices boosted the profitability of related industries. In the first eight months, the chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing industry achieved a total profit of RMB353.24 billion , a year-on-year increase of 51.0%; the oil and gas extraction industry achieved a total profit of RMB276.55 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.0%; and the petroleum processing industry turned a profit year-on-year, achieving a total profit of RMB56.29 billion.

Industrial enterprise profits maintained rapid growth. From January to August, driven by steady progress in industrial production and the expansion of industrial product price increases, the operating income of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6.6% year-on-year, leading to a 15.7% year-on-year increase in profits. The cumulative growth rate has maintained double digits since the beginning of the year. Looking at the three major sectors, profits in the mining industry increased by 35.1%, manufacturing profits increased by 17.4%, while profits in the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water decreased by 12.0%. In August, affected by the high base in the same period last year, the profit growth rate of industrial enterprises above designated size slowed down, increasing by 4.2% year-on-year. In terms of gross profit calculated by deducting operating costs from operating revenue, the gross profit of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 7.5%, 1.9 percentage points faster than the previous month.

The electronics industry significantly contributed to profit growth. The accelerated application of new technologies, represented by artificial intelligence, has driven increased demand in related fields, propelling rapid profit growth in the electronics industry. From January to August, the electronics industry's profits increased by 1.1 times year-on-year, contributing 62.0% to the profit growth of all industrial enterprises above designated size, making it a crucial support for the rapid profit growth of these enterprises. Among them, emerging scenarios such as new energy vehicles, the Internet of Things, and computing centers have driven increased demand for chips, leading to profit growth of 72.0% and 51.8% respectively in the optoelectronic device manufacturing and semiconductor discrete device manufacturing industries. Rapid development in the electronic basic raw materials sector also boosted profits in the electronic special materials manufacturing and electronic circuit manufacturing industries by 2.3 times and 49.1% respectively.

High-tech manufacturing played a prominent leading role. From January to August, profits of large-scale high-tech manufacturing enterprises increased by 54.7% year-on-year, a growth rate 39.0 percentage points higher than that of all large-scale industries. From an industry perspective, driven by the accelerated construction of computing infrastructure, the profits of the optical fiber manufacturing and optical cable manufacturing industries increased by 5.3 times and 1.0 times, respectively. In the fields of high-performance servers, workstations, and optoelectronic communications, the profits of computer assembly manufacturing, computer peripheral equipment manufacturing, industrial control computer and system manufacturing, and communication system equipment manufacturing industries increased by 3.9 times, 2.6 times, 1.3 times, and 48.7%, respectively. The instrumentation and new medical instrument and equipment manufacturing industry accelerated its development, with the profits of navigation, surveying, mapping, meteorological and marine special instrument manufacturing, and dental equipment and instrument manufacturing industries increasing by 2.2 times and 70.2%, respectively.

The raw materials manufacturing industry achieved rapid growth. From January to August, the profits of raw materials manufacturing enterprises above designated size increased by 47.3% year-on-year, contributing 6.2 percentage points to the overall profit growth of industrial enterprises above designated size. From an industry perspective, rising international crude oil and non-ferrous metal prices led to improved profitability in related industries. The chemical industry saw a profit increase of 51.0%; the non-ferrous metals industry saw a profit increase of 82.9%; and the petroleum processing industry turned a profit year-on-year, achieving a total profit of RMB 56.29 billion.

The unit cost of industrial enterprises continued to decline. From January to August, the cost per RMB100 of operating revenue for industrial enterprises above a designated size was RMB 85.07, a year-on-year decrease of 0.41 yuan. The cumulative unit cost of industrial enterprises has continued its year-on-year decline since the beginning of this year. From January to August, the operating profit margin of industrial enterprises above a designated size was 5.66%, a year-on-year increase of 0.44 percentage points. (Source: China Chemical Industry News)

SunSirs has been continuously tracking price data for over 200 commodities for nearly 20 years, please contact support@sunsirs.com for subscription.