In 2025, China's industrial firms experienced a profit increase of 0.6% year-on-year, reaching CNY 7.40 billion. This growth marks an acceleration from the modest 0.1% increase observed over the first 11 months. This uptick in profits was mainly bolstered by the stability in private firms’ earnings, which improved following a previous decline of 0.1%. Additionally, foreign-invested companies, particularly those hailing from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, reported a faster growth rate in profits at 4.2% compared to 2.4% earlier. Conversely, profits in state-owned enterprises continued to face downward pressure, declining by 3.9% as opposed to a 1.6% decrease in the previous period.
Sector-wise, the ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry exhibited the most significant earnings growth, with profits tripling. This was followed by the non-ferrous smelting sector, which saw a growth of 22.6%, and industries such as computers and communications (19.5%), electricity and heat (13.9%), special equipment (5.7%), electrical machinery (4.9%), general equipment (4.2%), and agriculture (3.2%). On the other hand, substantial profit declines were observed in coal mining (-41.8%), oil and gas (-18.7%), textiles (-12.0%), and chemicals (-7.3%). Notably, in December alone, profits jumped by 5.3% year-on-year, rebounding from the sharp 13.0% plunge seen in November, indicating a positive momentum as the industry moves into 2026.
