Industry signals its continued recovery: China Daily editorial

Enterprises with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan ($3.06 million) each saw their combined profits soar 15.5 percent year-on-year in November, and as of last month the total profits of those industrial enterprises had maintained positive growth for seven months consecutively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Thanks to the robust recovery of industries in the second half of this year, the operating income of these enterprises surged 0.1 percent year-on-year from January to November. Given their continuous recovery momentum, it is highly probable that these large-scale industrial enterprises will secure positive growth in their operating income this year.

Which will obviously be not only a hard-earned result given the tremendous difficulties the country has had to overcome over the past year, but also a telling sign indicating the world’s second-largest economy is on a continuous revival track considering these enterprises’ role as a barometer of consumption, innovation, employment and investment. It is expected that China will be the only major economy to register positive growth this year, and its annual growth next year is projected to be between 7.8 percent and 8 percent.

The immediate boosters of the continuous rise of industrial profits mainly include fast growth in production and sales along with the decline in their production costs. Particularly eye-catching has been the swelling of the revenues of equipment and high-tech manufacturers.

Among which, notably, the profits of high-tech manufacturing enterprises have surged 15 percent year-on-year from January to November. And thanks to the warming up of domestic and international demand, the equipment manufacturing industry has seen its profits rise 11.2 percent year-on-year over the first 11 months of this year, contributing 3.8 percentage points of growth to the profits of the large industrial enterprises.

And despite the trade row with the United States, the profits of the electronics and electrical and machinery industries, supposedly hard-hit sectors, have grown 15.7 percent and 6.6 percent respectively this year, as of the end of last month.

Which means the series of policies the government has customized to help the economy weather the storms by bolstering demand, promoting innovation, lowering costs and improving the business environment have worked well.

The revival of Chinese industries has also served to help provide for the needs of the global market, which is verified by the stable growth in China’s trade with almost all of its major trade partners this year.

The Central Economic Work Conference that concluded on Dec 18 indicated the pro-growth and pro-innovation policies are to continue but also that they will become more targeted, and more attention will be paid to stimulating domestic demand and consumption.

As such, as long as the novel coronavirus can be kept at bay, the industrial recovery in China will enjoy more favorable conditions in the coming year, ensuring the rebound is sustainable.