In the first eleven months of 2025, China's industrial firms experienced a modest profit increase of 0.1% year over year, reaching CNY 6.63 trillion. This marks a significant deceleration from the 1.9% growth recorded in the preceding period, attributed to waning demand and persistent pricing pressures. Earnings in the private sector saw a slight decline, dropping 0.1% compared to a 1.9% increase from January to October, whereas state-owned enterprises experienced a 1.6% decrease after remaining steady in the previous period. Notably, there was a 2.4% increase in profits for foreign-invested companies and those with investments from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.
Analyzing by industry, computers and communications saw a robust profit growth of 15.0%, followed by electricity and heat production at 11.8%, non-ferrous metal smelting at 11.1%, the automotive sector at 7.5%, agriculture and general manufacturing both at 4.8%, and special equipment at 4.6%. Conversely, significant profit declines were observed in coal mining, down by 47.3%, oil and gas by 13.6%, textiles by 8.2%, and chemicals by 6.9%. On a healthier note, fuel processing managed to reduce its losses. In November alone, profits saw a substantial drop of 13.1% year over year, exacerbating the 5.5% decline noted in October.
