Source: Cailian Press
From January to August 2025, China's large-scale industrial enterprises achieved a total profit of 4,692.97 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.9%.
In August, the profits of large-scale industrial enterprises increased by 20.4% year-on-year, reversing the 1.5% decline in the previous month.
Official interpretation: The year-on-year growth in profits of large-scale industrial enterprises from January to August was realized.
The National Bureau of Statistics released data showing that from January to August, China's large-scale industrial enterprises achieved a total profit of 4,692.97 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.9%. In August, the profits of large-scale industrial enterprises increased by 20.4% year-on-year, reversing the 1.5% decline in the previous month.
Yu Weining, Chief Statistician of the Department of Industry at the National Bureau of Statistics, provided an interpretation of the industrial enterprise profit data for January to August 2025.
Growth of 0.9% in profits of large-scale industrial enterprises nationwide from January to August 2025
From January to August, large-scale industrial enterprises nationwide achieved a total profit of 4,692.97 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.9%.
From January to August, among large-scale industrial enterprises, state-controlled enterprises achieved a total profit of 1,515.65 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year decrease of 1.7%; joint-stock enterprises achieved a total profit of 3,493.19 billion yuan, representing an increase of 1.1%; foreign-funded and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan-invested enterprises achieved a total profit of 1,172.36 billion yuan, representing an increase of 0.9%; private enterprises achieved a total profit of 1,307.61 billion yuan, representing an increase of 3.3%.
From January to August, the mining industry achieved a total profit of 566.11 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year decrease of 30.6%; the manufacturing industry achieved a total profit of 3,523.35 billion yuan, representing an increase of 7.4%; the electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply industry achieved a total profit of 603.51 billion yuan, representing an increase of 9.4%.
From January to August, the profit situation of major industries was as follows: the profit of the electricity, heat production and supply industry increased by 13.0% year-on-year; non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry grew by 12.7%; agricultural and sideline food processing industry grew by 11.8%; electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry grew by 11.5%; computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry grew by 7.2%; specialized equipment manufacturing industry grew by 6.9%; general equipment manufacturing industry grew by 5.8%; petroleum, coal, and other fuel processing industries saw a reduction in losses year-on-year; ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry turned from loss to profit year-on-year; automobile manufacturing industry declined by 0.3%; non-metallic mineral products industry declined by 2.2%; chemical raw material and chemical products manufacturing industry declined by 5.5%; textile industry declined by 7.0%; oil and gas extraction industry declined by 12.4%; coal mining and washing industry declined by 53.6%.
From January to August, enterprises above designated size achieved operating revenue of 89.62 trillion yuan, increasing by 2.3% year-on-year; operating costs amounted to 76.70 trillion yuan, growing by 2.5%; the profit margin of operating revenue was 5.24%, decreasing by 0.06 percentage points year-on-year.
By the end of August, the total assets of enterprises above designated size were 185.08 trillion yuan, up 5.0% year-on-year; total liabilities were 107.34 trillion yuan, increasing by 5.4%; total owner's equity was 77.73 trillion yuan, up 4.4%; the asset-liability ratio was 58.0%, rising by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year.
By the end of August, accounts receivable of enterprises above designated size totaled 27.24 trillion yuan, up 6.6% year-on-year; finished goods inventory was 6.73 trillion yuan, increasing by 2.3%.
From January to August, the cost per hundred yuan of operating revenue for enterprises above designated size was 85.58 yuan, an increase of 0.19 yuan year-on-year; expenses per hundred yuan of operating revenue were 8.37 yuan, down 0.08 yuan year-on-year.
By the end of August, the operating revenue realized per hundred yuan of assets for enterprises above designated size was 74.0 yuan, a decrease of 2.0 yuan year-on-year; per capita operating revenue was 1.835 million yuan, an increase of 57,000 yuan year-on-year; the turnover days of finished goods inventory were 20.5 days, increasing by 0.1 days year-on-year; the average recovery period of accounts receivable was 70.1 days, up 3.7 days year-on-year.
In August, the profit of enterprises above designated size turned from a year-on-year decline of 1.5% in the previous month to a growth of 20.4%.
From January to August, the profit of enterprises above designated size increased year-on-year.
Yu Weining, Chief Statistician of the Industry Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, interprets the industrial enterprise profit data from January to August 2025.
From January to August, under the influence of effective macro-policy implementation, the deep advancement of the unified national market, combined with the low base effect from the same period last year and other multiple factors, the profit of enterprises above designated size increased by 0.9% year-on-year. The equipment manufacturing industry provided strong support, and the profits of enterprises of different sizes all improved.
Industrial enterprises' profits have significantly improved. From January to August, the profits of large-scale industrial enterprises turned from a year-on-year decline of 1.7% in January-July to an increase of 0.9%, reversing the continuous decline in cumulative profits since May. By the three major sectors, manufacturing grew by 7.4% in January-August, accelerating by 2.6 percentage points compared with January-July; electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply grew by 9.4%, accelerating by 5.5 percentage points; mining industry declined by 30.6%, with the decline narrowing by 1.0 percentage point. On a monthly basis, profits of large-scale industrial enterprises in August saw double-digit growth, turning from a 1.5% decline in July to a 20.4% increase, indicating a significant improvement in profit for the month.
Industrial enterprises' revenue maintained stable growth. From January to August, the operating revenue of large-scale industrial enterprises increased by 2.3% year-on-year, the same as that of January-July. In particular, the operating revenue of industrial enterprises in August grew by 1.9%, accelerating by 1.0 percentage point compared with July, providing favorable conditions for continued recovery in profitability.
The role of the equipment manufacturing industry as a "stabilizer" has been evident. From January to August, the profits of large-scale equipment manufacturing industries grew by 7.2%, driving the overall profit growth of large-scale industrial enterprises by 2.5 percentage points, making it one of the strongest contributing sectors and playing a significant supporting role in the recovery of large-scale industrial enterprises' profits. By sector, seven out of the eight industries in the equipment manufacturing sector achieved profit growth. Specifically, the railway, shipbuilding, aerospace, and electrical machinery sectors saw relatively rapid profit growth, with increases of 37.3% and 11.5%, respectively. The special equipment and electronics sectors saw profits grow by 6.9% and 7.2%, respectively, accelerating by 3.7 and 0.5 percentage points from January-July.
Raw material manufacturing profits grew rapidly, while consumer goods manufacturing profits turned from a decline to growth. Driven by factors such as increased market demand, rising prices, and reduced costs, profits in raw material manufacturing grew by 22.1% year-on-year from January to August, accelerating by 10.0 percentage points from January-July, contributing 2.5 percentage points to the overall profit growth of large-scale industrial enterprises. Notably, the steel industry reversed losses to achieve profitability with total profits reaching RMB 83.7 billion, while the non-ferrous metals industry's profits grew by 12.7%, accelerating by 5.8 percentage points from January-July. In the consumer goods manufacturing sector, profits turned from a 2.2% decline in January-July to a 1.4% increase in January-August. Particularly, the alcoholic beverages and tea, as well as agricultural and sideline food processing sectors, experienced rapid profit growth at 19.9% and 11.8%, respectively, together contributing 1.0 percentage point to the overall profit growth of large-scale industrial enterprises.
Enterprises of different sizes saw improvements in profits, with private enterprises experiencing a significant acceleration in profit growth. From January to August, by scale, medium-sized and small-sized enterprises in large-scale industries saw their profits grow by 2.7% and 1.5% year-on-year, respectively, accelerating by 1.1 and 0.4 percentage points from January-July. The decline in profits of large enterprises narrowed by 4.6 percentage points from January-July. By enterprise type, the rate of decline in profits of state-owned holding enterprises narrowed by 5.8 percentage points from January-July. Profits of private enterprises grew by 3.3%, 2.4 percentage points higher than the average level of all large-scale industrial enterprises, and accelerating by 1.5 percentage points from January-July.
In August, enterprises' unit costs decreased, and the profit margin on revenue rebounded. In August, the cost situation of large-scale industrial enterprises improved, with costs per hundred yuan of operating revenue decreasing by 0.20 yuan year-on-year, marking the first monthly year-on-year reduction since July 2024. In August, the operating revenue profit margin of large-scale industrial enterprises was 5.83%, up by 0.90 percentage points year-on-year.
In the next phase, against the backdrop of a severe and complex external environment and insufficient domestic market demand, it is imperative to fully implement the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee, further expand domestic demand, advance the construction of a unified national market, standardize corporate competition order, and create more favorable conditions for the sustained recovery of industrial enterprises' profits.
Editor/Jeffy