China: Industrial firms' 2021 profits jump 34.3% in CY'21

During 2021, the gross profits that sizable Chinese industrial firms earned surged by 34.3% on year to total Yuan 8.7 trillion ($1.3 trillion), according to new data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on January 27.

The detailed breakdown by quarter revealed that the enterprises sampled by NBS made the most profits in last year's first quarter - higher by 137% from January-March, 2020 - and the least during fourth quarter, up just 12.3% compared with Q4 in 2020.

Industrial firms experienced significant profit growth and consistent efficiency improvements during last year, according to Zhu Hong, the bureau's senior statistician.

However, profit growth slowed sharply in November and December, and downstream industries, particularly in micro- and small-sized enterprises, remained under significant operating pressure, she commented in a post on the same day.

For December alone, the gross profit of these industrial firms totaled Yuan 734 billion, rising at a slow pace of 4.2% on year, and far slower than the 9% on-year gain recorded in November, Thursday's NBS data showed.

For the whole of 2021, enterprises in 32 of the 41 industrial sectors NBS monitors across China saw their profits increase on year, and among those, firms in 18 sectors posted double-digit growth in on-year profits. In this group, telecommunications equipment, computer, and other electronics manufacturers posted the fastest increase in profits - up 38.9% on year to total Yuan 828.3 billion, according to the NBS.

More specifically, the profit growth in the chemical raw materials and products manufacturing sectors surged 87.8% on year to Yuan 801.9 billion, ranking these second largest in terms of share of the total profits, the NBS data show. For the coal mining and processing sector, the third contributor, profits were recorded at Yuan 702.3 billion, or up by a sizzling 212.7% on year.

The profit growth was mainly fueled by the mining and raw material industries, Zhu observed, while profits from the upstream mining and raw material manufacturing sectors surged by 190.7% and 70.8% in 2021, respectively, thanks to strong commodity prices.

At the same time, profits among enterprises in China's ferrous mining and beneficiation sector grew by 113.5% on year to Yuan 77.5 billion, while profits for the ferrous smelting and fabrication sector were up substantially by 75.5% on year to reach Yuan 424.1 billion, according to the bureau.

As for the country's nonferrous metals sector, total profits gained by the nonferrous mining and processing enterprises rose by 44.5% to Yuan 51.4 billion, while the nonferrous smelting and fabrication sector recorded a 115.9% on-year jump in gross profits to Yuan 313.1 billion.

By the ownership of the sampled firms, China's state-owned industrial enterprises were the clear champions of 2021, enjoying a healthy 56% jump in gross profits to reach Yuan 2.3 trillion, the NBS numbers show. On the other hand, foreign industrial enterprises reported the smallest profit increases last year, with their combined profits rising by 21.1% to Yuan 2.3 trillion too, the bureau stated.