Profits of China’s major industrial firms dropped at a slower pace for the second consecutive month in July, but profits of the high-tech manufacturers surged 18.9 percent year-on-year in the same month, powering the economic growth, official data showed on Wednesday.
Industrial enterprises with yearly business revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) posted combined profits of 4.02 trillion yuan during the January-July period, down 1.7 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In July alone, profits of China’s major industrial firms slipped 1.5 percent year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points narrower than the decline seen in June, marking the second straight month of narrower losses, the data showed.
In the month, large-scale industrial production maintained steady growth, with the implementation of government policies to support a moderate recovery in price levels, which effectively boosted corporate profitability, said Yu Weining, an NBS statistician.
Notably, profits of the high-tech manufacturing sector rebounded from a 0.9 percent year-on-year drop in June to an 18.9 percent year-on-year increase, lifting overall profits of China’s major industrial firms by 2.9 percentage points, according to the NBS.
Amid the continuous growth of China’s aerospace sector and technological upgrading, profits in the aerospace, aviation, and related equipment manufacturing industry surged by 40.9 percent year-on-year in July. In semiconductors, stronger innovation capacity drove profits in integrated circuit manufacturing up 176.1 percent year-on-year, semiconductor device-specific equipment manufacturing up by 104.5 percent, and discrete device manufacturing up by 27.1 percent.
Since early 2025, China has expanded equipment upgrade and major consumer goods trade-in programs, driving rapid profit growth in related industries.
In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) saw notable profit improvements, with private enterprises outperforming the national average, the NBS data showed.
In July, profits for major industrial medium-sized enterprises rebounded from a drop of 7.8 percent year-on-year in June to an increase of 1.8 percent year-on-year in July, while those of small enterprises shifted from a drop of 9.7 percent to expansion of 0.5 percent, reflecting significant enhancement in profitability.
