Industrial Firms' Profits Rise 18.7% in H1, Driven by Electronics and Nonferrous Metals

During the first half of the year, above-scale industrial enterprises nationwide achieved total profits of RMB 3,947.99 billion, up 18.7% year on year, with the growth rate accelerating by 3.2 percentage points from the first quarter. In the same period, operating revenue rose 6.5% year on year, accelerating by 1.5 percentage points from the first quarter; the operating profit margin stood at 5.7%, up 0.59 percentage point year on year, marking the highest cumulative level for any month since the start of 2024. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on July 27 show that industrial production remained stable with progress in the first half, and new drivers grew and strengthened rapidly, driving relatively fast profit growth for industrial enterprises.

By the three major categories, mining industry profits rose 33.5% year on year in the first half, manufacturing profits increased 20.1%, with growth rates accelerating by 17.3 and 1.0 percentage points respectively from the first quarter; profits in the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water declined year on year. The accelerated integration of artificial intelligence with various fields and the substantial increase in computing power demand boosted electronics industry profits by 96.9% year on year, contributing 8.5 percentage points to the profit growth of all above-scale industrial enterprises, becoming an important support for relatively fast profit growth.

Within the electronics sector, servers and high-performance workstations related areas saw outstanding growth: computer manufacturing profits surged 689.3%, computer peripheral equipment manufacturing rose 305.8%; in electronic device manufacturing, integrated circuit manufacturing profits soared 2,579.5%, semiconductor discrete device manufacturing rose 31.2%; in electronic components and electronic special materials manufacturing, electronic special materials manufacturing profits rose 209.7%, electronic circuit manufacturing rose 26.9%. The rapid development of new driver-related industries drove profits in recycled rubber manufacturing up 133.3%, graphite and carbon products manufacturing up 61.0%, and optical fiber manufacturing up 410.4%.

In the first half, raw materials manufacturing profits rose 71.7% year on year, contributing 8.8 percentage points to the profit growth of all above-scale industrial enterprises. Driven by strong demand for copper, aluminum, and other nonferrous metal products, the nonferrous metals industry saw profits rise 99.4%, contributing 4.7 percentage points to overall profit growth. Profits in some traditional manufacturing and real estate-related industrial chains continued to decline: automobile manufacturing profits fell 19.5%, ferrous metal smelting and rolling fell 25.0%, and non-metallic mineral products fell 47.8%.

At the end of June, the asset-liability ratio of above-scale industrial enterprises was 58.3%, up 0.3 percentage point year on year. Accounts receivable stood at RMB 28.60 trillion, up 8.1% year on year; finished goods inventory was RMB 7.11 trillion, up 9.5%. The inventory turnover days were 21.1 days, an increase of 0.4 days year on year; the average collection period for accounts receivable was 71.7 days, an increase of 0.8 days. The data also indicated that the external environment remains complex and volatile, international commodity price trends are still uncertain, and industrial enterprises face issues such as insufficient market demand and pressure on cash flow turnover.