China’s industrial firms register growth for fourth straight month

Profits at China’s industrial firms grew for the fourth straight month in August, buoyed in part by a rebound in commodities prices and equipment manufacturing, the statistics bureau said on Sunday.

China’s recovery has been gaining momentum as pent-up demand, government stimulus and surprisingly resilient exports propel a rebound.

Industrial firm profits grew 19.1% year-on-year in August to 612.81 billion yuan ($89.8 billion), the statistics bureau said.

That compares with a 19.6% increase in July and is the fourth straight month of profit growth.

However, industrial firms’ profits still face external pressures as rising tensions between Washington and Beijing cloud the global trade outlook.

Raw material manufacturing profits increased by 32.5% in August, up from 14.7% in July, according to Zhu Hong, an official at the statistics bureau. This was driven in part by a rebound in the prices of international commodities such as crude oil and iron ore, he added.

Meanwhile, profits of the general equipment manufacturing sector notched up 37% in August on-year, with electrical machinery up by 13.3% over the same period.

Economic indicators in August, ranging from exports to producer prices and factory output, all pointed to a further pickup in the industrial sector.

However, factory activity grew at a slower pace with smaller firms facing sluggish market demand and financial strains.

The country has introduced a slew of measures to kick-start the economy, from tax and fee reductions to grace periods for the calling in of debt.

China’s economy may stagnate if it fails to rise up the value chain, as it faces increasing competition from countries with advanced technologies and lower labour costs, economists warned.

Authorities have pledged to boost investment in strategic industries including core tech sectors such as 5G, artificial intelligence and semiconductors, and accelerate new material development to ensure stable supply chains.

For January-August, industrial firms’ profits fell 4.4% from a year earlier to 3.72 trillion yuan, better than the 8.1% decrease in the first seven months. Liabilities at industrial firms rose 6.6% on-year at end-August, edging higher than the 6.5% at end-July. Earnings at state-owned industrial firms were down 17% on an annual basis for the first eight months of the year, versus a 23.5% decline in the first seven months.

Private-sector profits fell 3.3% in January-August, narrowing from January-July’s 5.3% fall.

Meanwhile, the United States has imposed restrictions on exports to China’s biggest chip maker SMIC after concluding there is an “unacceptable risk” equipment supplied to it could be used for military purposes.

Suppliers of certain equipment to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation will now have to apply for individual export licenses, according to a letter from the Commerce Department dated Friday and seen by Reuters.

The latest move marks a shift in US policy from earlier this year, when applicants seeking “military end user” licenses to sell to SMIC were told by the Commerce Department that the licenses weren’t necessary, according to three people familiar with the matter.

SMIC said it had not received any official notice of the restrictions and said it has no ties with the Chinese military.

“SMIC reiterates that it manufactures semiconductors and provides services solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses,” SMIC said.

“The Company has no relationship with the Chinese military and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-uses.”

SMIC is the latest leading Chinese technology company to face U.S. trade restrictions related to national security issues or US foreign policy efforts. Telecoms giant Huawei Technologies had its access to high-end chips curtailed by its addition to a Commerce Department blacklist known as the entity list.

“There’s been a lot of coverage on the Trump administration’s actions regarding TikTok, but the more significant action - from a global economic standpoint and that will have considerable ripple effects through global supply chains - are the increasing restrictions on SMIC and other Chinese national champions like Huawei,” said Nicholas Klein, a Washington lawyer who specializes in international trade. He said these actions are more likely to draw a retaliatory response from Beijing.

The United States has moved to ban the popular short video app TikTok, citing national security concerns stemming from its Chinese ownership.

Reuters