Profits at China’s industrial companies rose at a faster pace in September than the previous month, according to official data released on Wednesday.
Overall profits jumped 16.3% year on year to 738 billion yuan ($115 billion) the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, an acceleration from the 10.1% gain reported in August.
NBS noted particularly strong gains in mining and energy. The price of coal has surged in recent months amid supply shortages and power rationing.
Beijing has urged coal mine owners to boost output as well as investigate energy price index providers in its latest bid to tame prices that have hit record highs.
Liabilities among the companies surveyed – large enterprises with annual revenues of more than 20 million yuan ($3.1 million) – rose 8.2% from a year earlier, the bureau noted, down from 8.4% growth as of end-August.
“In the third quarter of 2021 , industrial production continued to recover, profits maintained a good growth momentum, corporate profitability continued to improve, and profitability, asset-liability ratio and capital turnover continued to improve year-on-year,” said Zhu Hong, a senior statistician at the NBS.
He said there was a continuing “profit imbalance between upstream and downstream industries”.
“We must do a good job in epidemic prevention and control, maintain the continuity and stability of macroeconomic policies, stabilise commodity prices and continue to expand domestic demand,” said Zhu.
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