The latest official data shows that from January to July, profits of industrial enterprises in China above designated size decreased by 1.7% year-on-year; in July, it declined by 1.5% compared to the previous year, marking the third consecutive month of decline.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on August 27, from January to July, total profits of industrial enterprises above designated size in the country amounted to 4.0235 trillion Yuan, down by 1.7% year-on-year.
Among them, profits of state-owned enterprises amounted to 1.28234 trillion Yuan, a decrease of 7.5% year-on-year; profits of shareholding enterprises totaled 2.97425 trillion Yuan, a decrease of 2.8%; profits of foreign, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan-invested enterprises reached 1.02167 trillion Yuan, an increase of 1.8%; profits of private enterprises amounted to 1.11837 trillion Yuan, representing a growth of 1.8%.
In July, profits of industrial enterprises above designated size decreased by 1.5% year-on-year, marking the third consecutive monthly decrease; compared to June, there was a 4.3% decline, and a 9.1% decline in May.
Prior official data indicated that China’s economy cooled significantly in July, with all three core indicators dropping below market expectations.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on August 15 showed that retail sales in July only increased by 3.7% year-on-year, falling short of the estimated 4.6% and significantly slowing down from June’s 4.8%, marking the lowest growth rate so far this year.
Industrial value-added growth increased by 5.7% year-on-year, the lowest since November last year, below the forecasted 5.9%, and weaker than June’s 6.8%.
Fixed-asset investment from January to July saw a year-on-year growth of 1.6%, lower than the market expectation of 2.7% and lower than the first half’s 2.8%; real estate investment showed an expanded decline, down by 12% year-on-year in the first seven months. Goldman Sachs estimated that fixed-asset investment in July alone decreased by 5.2% year-on-year, marking the largest decline since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
There have been long-standing external doubts about whether the Chinese authorities may manipulate statistical data and portray the economic situation overly optimistically. Nevertheless, several indicators in the July official data still revealed a simultaneous weakening trend, indicating underlying downward pressure.