China’s industrial profits drop in October as property slump flows downstream

A decline in profits for China’s large firms was reported in October, with those linked to property and retail hit hardest

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China’s large industrial firms reported a decline in profits for October as a slowdown in the property market continues to affect adjacent sectors. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 7:30pm, 27 Nov 2024

China’s large industrial firms reported a steep decline in profit for October – particularly among those linked to the property and retail sectors – with more pressure expected from tariff hikes after US president-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Their combined profits went down by 10 per cent year on year last month, the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said on Wednesday. The total for January through October fell 4.3 per cent from the same period last year to 5.87 trillion yuan (US$810.9 billion), worse than the 3.5 per cent drop recorded in the first nine months.

A loss of 23.3 billion yuan was reported for steel firms in the first 10 months, while the “petroleum, coal and other fuels” enterprises shed 37.7 billion yuan in profits. In the non-metallic minerals sector, profits tumbled 49.6 per cent in the same period.

State-controlled industrial firms reported a fall of 8.2 per cent to 1.85 trillion yuan, while major enterprises from foreign territories as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan posted 1.46 trillion yuan in combined profits over the first 10 months, up 0.9 per cent over the same period in 2023.

Domestic private enterprises saw a combined profit of 1.65 trillion yuan, down 1.3 per cent.

Analysts attributed the declines in manufacturing and the production of certain materials to weak construction demand, a casualty of an ongoing slump in the property market.