MNI 5 THINGS: China Dec Industrial Profits Extends Decline

     BEIJING (MNI) - Here are the five things MNI highlights from the Industrial

Profits data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Monday. 

     - December industrial profits fell 1.9% y/y, extending the 1.8% decline

seen in November for a second consecutive month. Accumulated profits for 2018

rose by 10.3% y/y, down from 11.8% y/y in Jan-Nov, and compared to 2017's 21.0%.

     - In 2018, profit gains in 32 out of 41 major industrial sectors saw

increases from the previous year. Five industries have contributed 77.1% to

total profit gains, including crude oil and natural gas extraction (more than

400%), non-metallic mineral production (+43%), ferrous metal processing

(+37.8%), the chemical sector (+15.9%) and wine, beverage and refined tea

manufacturing (+20.8%), NBS said.

     -Profits in the automotive industry fell 4.7% y/y, while the computer,

communications and other electronics manufacturing fell 3.1%.

     - In 2018, industrial enterprises paid CNY83.88 of costs and fees for every

CNY100 income from their main business. The costs and fees fell by CNY0.2 from a

year earlier. The profit rate was 6.49%, an increase of 0.11 percentage points

from a year earlier, the NBS said. 

     - By end-Dec, the debt-to-asset ratio of large-scale industrial enterprises

tracked by the NBS was 56.5%, down 0.5 of a percentage point y/y. The ratio of

state-owned enterprises (SOEs) was 58.7%, down 1.6 percentage points y/y.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: wanxia.lin@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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