bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Profits earned by China’s industrial firms slipped in June after a brief gain the previous month, fuelling concerns that a slowdown in manufacturing caused by the trade war with the United States will weigh on economic growth.
China’s industrial profits have been in decline since the second half of last year, with many firms putting off business decisions and scaling back manufacturing investment.
Economic growth in the second quarter of this year slowed to a near 30-year low.
Industrial profits in June fell 3.1 per cent year on year to 601.9 billion yuan (US$87.5 billion), according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday, following a 1.1 per cent increase in May.




Profits for the first six months fell 2.4 per cent from last year to 2.98 trillion yuan (US$433 billion), compared with a 2.3 per cent drop in the year through May.
The drop in first-half profits was driven by weaker figures in the car, oil processing and steel sectors, the statistics bureau said in a statement accompanying the data.
Producer price inflation, a gauge of industrial profitability, eased to zero in June from a year earlier, rekindling worries about deflation, which could prompt the government to launch more aggressive stimulus measures.
US and Chinese negotiators will meet on Tuesday for the first time since their presidents, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, agreed last month to revive talks in a bid to end the year-long trade war.

The governments of the world’s two largest economies have levied billions of dollars of tariffs on each other’s imports, disrupting global supply chains and shaking financial markets in the dispute over how China does business with the rest of the world.
June marked the first full month of higher US tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods, which the US imposed in early May after trade talks broke down. Both exports and imports fell.
Saturday’s data showed that profits from the construction materials and machinery industries helped cushion the fall in overall profits in the first half of the year, likely due to higher government spending on infrastructure, which has supported some companies, such as railway equipment makers, miners and metal producers.
Sany Heavy Industry, which makes heavy construction equipment, said this month that it expected its first-half profits to rise by between 91.8 and 106.6 per cent from a year earlier.



But earnings for telecommunications and electronic equipment manufacturers, which are more vulnerable to US tariffs than other product classes, fell by 7.9 per cent in the January-June period.
The most actively traded iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 16.4 per cent in June, weighing on profits in the steel sector.
Profits at China’s state-owned industrial firms fell 8.7 per cent on an annual basis for the first six months, the statistics bureau said.
Liabilities of industrial firms rose 5.6 per cent year on year as of the end of June versus a 5.3 per cent increase by the end of May.
Private sector profits rose 6 per cent in the January-June period, slowing from the 6.6 per cent gain in the first five months.


China’s real estate rethink can help end developers’ debt addiction

New Apec chair China positions as global defender at ‘pivotal juncture’ while US retreats

China raises taxes on some sectors to boost finances: a one-off fix or tough times ahead?

Surging stocks could help China become more than an export powerhouse

China economy

China’s industrial profits fall 3.1 per cent in June as fears of trade war slowdown grow

Industrial profits in June fell 3.1 per cent year on year to 601.9 billion yuan (US$87.5 billion), according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday, following a 1.1 per cent increase in May. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, file photo, factory workers assemble the cases of air conditioners on an assembly line at a factory in Jiaozhou, eastern China's Shandong Province. An official survey shows China's manufacturing activity contracted in December, boosting pressure on Beijing to reverse an economic downturn amid trade tension with Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

The drop in China’s first-half industrial profits was driven by weaker figures in the car, oil processing and steel sectors. Photo: Xinhua

China, Donald Trump keep expectations low ahead of trade talks in Shanghai

Washington and Beijing have confirmed that the next round of negotiations will be held in Shanghai on Tuesday and Wednesday. Photo: AP

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He will meet US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Photo: Reuters

China import expo expects more US firms to participate this year in Shanghai despite trade war

Japanese manufacturing company Nachi-Fujikoshi simulated assembling a car at the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai last year. Photo: Xinhua

*** ONE TIME USE ONLY *** [SCREEN SHOT] Wang Bingnan, Vice Minister of Commerce of PRC. Photo: Handout

During the first China International Import Expo, which attracted more than 3,600 companies from 172 countries, regions and international organisations, Chinese firms signed import deals worth more than US$57.83 billion, according to official data. Photo: Xinhua

US blacklist pushes once-powerful Chinese state oil trader deeper into the shadows

Chinese imports from Iran declined 46.6 per cent to US$7.17 billion in June. Photo: Reuters

FILE PHOTO: A gas flare on an oil production platform in the Soroush oil fields is seen alongside an Iranian flag in the Persian Gulf, Iran, July 25, 2005. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/File Photo

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2014, file photo, a partially constructed gas refinery at the South Pars gas field is seen on the northern coast of Persian Gulf in Asalouyeh, Iran. Japan, South Korea and other major oil importers welcomed Tuesday the decision by the Trump administration to let them continue to import Iranian crude oil and other petroleum products despite the re-imposition of sanctions on Tehran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that Zhuhai Zhenrong was being added to the sanctions blacklist. Photo: Bloomberg

China’s weak exports in first half of 2019 are also bad news for its major trading partners

China’s exports to the United States contracted by 8.1 per cent, a sharp reversal from the 13.5 per cent rise during the first half of 2018, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Photo: AP

China is the leading maker of personal computers and smartphones globally, but it continues to rely heavily on imported components from the US and the rest of the world. Photo: EPA

China gives up two of its best-kept forex reserve secrets

By the end of 2014, US dollar assets accounted for 58 per cent of China’s total forex reserves, down from 79 per cent in 2005, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Photo: Xinhua

By the end of 2014, US dollar assets accounted for 58 per cent of China’s total reserves, down from 79 per cent in 2005. Photo: AP

Economy

China Economy

Economic Indicators

Earnings drop to US$87.5 billion in month, National Bureau of Statistics says, in first full month of higher US tariffs on Chinese goods
Industrial profits for first six months of 2019 slip 2.4 per cent from same period of last year


Earnings drop to US$87.5 billion in month, National Bureau of Statistics says, in first full month of higher US tariffs on Chinese goods.


State-owned enterprises