Workers rush to produce smart LED lighting products in a workshop in Ruichang, a manufacturing hub of smart products, in East China's Jiangxi Province on January 19, 2023. As the Spring Festival approaches, Ruichang offered various incentives such as overtime pay to encourage workers to stay on the job to ensure smooth holiday production. Photo: cnsphoto

Enterprises above designated size across China recorded total profits of 8.4 trillion yuan ($1.24 trillion) in the year of 2022, down 4 percent year-on-year, while overall profit structure has improved, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Tuesday. 

Among industrial enterprises above designated size, state-owned holding enterprises realized a total profit of 2.38 trillion yuan in 2022, an increase of 3 percent year-on-year; while private enterprises realized a total profit of 2.66 trillion yuan, down 7.2 percent.

Among the 41 industrial categories, the total profit of 21 industries increased year-on-year, while that of 19 industries decreased. The profits of the oil and natural gas mining industry increased by 1.1 times, the power and heat production and supply industry increased by 86.3 percent, while the manufacturing of computer, communications and other electronic equipment decreased by 13.1 percent.

Although the profits of industrial enterprises declined in 2022 due to multiple factors that exceeded expectations and a relatively high base in the same period of last year, overall profit structure continued to improve, said senior NBS statistician Zhu Hong in a statement.

The combined revenues of industrial firms sustained growth by 5.9 percent over the previous year. Excluding sharp declines across a few enterprises, such as steel, oil processing enterprises and vaccine manufacturing industry, the profit growth rate will be 5.6 percent for the rest industries in 2022, Zhu said.

Among the major industries, the profit share of equipment manufacturing industry increased last year to 34.3 percent, up 2 percentage points over the previous year, Zhu said, noting that the profit structure of industrial enterprises had improved.

The profit of the railway, shipping, aviation and aerospace transport equipment industry increased by 44.5 percent over the previous year, achieving rapid growth. Electrical machinery industry, driven by the new-energy industry, saw its profit increase by 31.2 percent, accelerating its growth rate for eight consecutive months. It is the manufacturing industry that has driven the most industrial profit growth, Zhu detailed.

Most consumer goods sectors also saw their profits improve as China ramped up efforts to boost domestic demand; and the profits of mining, electricity and water industries maintained a relatively high growth rate.

In the meantime, there remain many uncertainties at both home and abroad, enterprises are still under great pressure, and industrial enterprises still face many challenges, Zhu stressed, vowing to better coordinate epidemic prevention with economic development, vigorously boost market confidence, consolidate the foundation for the recovery of industrial enterprises' performance, and promote the overall improvement of industrial economy in 2023.

Global Times