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Industrial profits fall in first two months

By Zheng Lifei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-28 09:32

Chinese industrial firms earned a combined 219.1 billion yuan ($32.07 billion) in profits in the first two months of this year, down 37.3 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.

Profits of State-owned companies fell 59.2 percent in January through February this year from the same period last year, while foreign-funded firms suffered a 39.3 percent fall.

Private industrial enterprises, however, saw a 3.3-percent year-on-year growth in their earnings in the same period.

Related readings:  Income, tax payments drop at China's State firms  Lower profits likely at major Chinese banks  Industrial output growth continues slump  Urban fixed assets investment sees slower growth

"The profit decline (in the first two months) is in line with our estimates as they are a lagging indicator of the economy," said Dong Xian'an, economist, Southwest Securities.

China's economic growth dropped to a seven-year low of 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, dragged down by shrinking exports and slowing investment.

The country's industrial output growth slowed to 3.8 percent in January and February from a year earlier, down from a 5.7 percent increase in December, NBS said earlier.

"The quarterly industrial profits are now showing signs of stabilizing in terms of their month-on-month bases and we expect them to turn better in the coming quarters as the economy is likely to pick up then," Dong said.

China's economy has shown some signs of recovery thanks to the government's prompt measures, central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said in an article on Thursday

China's urban fixed-asset investment jumped 26.5 percent in the first two months from a year earlier with new lending quadrupling in February to touch 1.07 trillion yuan, according to government figures.

"The strong credit and money growth bode well for a policy-driven V-shaped recovery by mid-year, making China the first to recover among major economies," Wang Qing, Hong Kong-based chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, said earlier this month in a research note.

Among sectors, steel mills, non-ferrous metal processors and chemical fiber makers plunged into the red in the first two months, NBS said.

Electronic and telecommunication manufacturers saw their profits drop 96 percent from a year earlier, while oil and gas exploration sector suffered an 86-percent fall in their profits.

Power generation firms registered a 77-percent fall in their profits, while oil refiners eked out a profit of 11.7 billion yuan against a loss of 19.4 billion yuan early in the year, as crude oil prices tumbled in the second half of last year.