China’s Industrial Profit Growth Picked Up in September

(Bloomberg) -- Profit growth at China’s industrial firms picked up in September, partly as profitability of companies that mine and manufacture raw materials rose significantly on spiking energy prices. 

Industrial profit growth accelerated to 16.3% in September from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday, compared with a 10.1% increase in the previous month. For the first nine months of the year, profits climbed 44.7% from a year earlier.

While profits maintained solid growth in the third quarter, factors such as high commodity prices and bottlenecks in supply and industrial chains have affected the continued recovery of corporate profitability, according to Zhu Hong, a senior statistician with the statistics bureau. 

“At the same time, the unevenness of profitability between upstream and downstream industries is more prominent, and the foundation for the recovery of industrial enterprises’ profits still needs to be further consolidated,” she wrote in the statement. 

Profits at state-owned companies grew 77.9% in the first nine months of the year from a year ago, while that at private firms increased 30.7%. Profits at petroleum, coal and other fuel processing industries grew 930% in the January-September period, likely boosted by soaring energy.

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With assistance from Bloomberg