Recent data shows that under the expanding benefits of the old-for-new policy for electronic and home appliance products, industries such as smart consumer device manufacturing, household kitchen appliance manufacturing, and household refrigeration appliance manufacturing have seen profit increases of 125.5%, 19.9%, and 19.2%, respectively. The "two new" policies continue to show significant effects. Overall, among large-scale industrial enterprises, revenues for related companies have accelerated growth in the first two months, while profits have slightly declined.
Data shows that from January to February, the total profit of industrial enterprises above designated size in the country reached 910.99 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.3%.
From the perspectives of revenue, costs, and profit margins, in January and February, industrial enterprises above a designated size achieved operating revenues of 20.09 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.8% year-on-year; incurred operating costs of 17.10 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.9%; and the operating profit margin was 4.53%, a decrease of 0.14 percentage points year-on-year.
The statistician Yu Weining from the Industrial Division of the National Bureau of Statistics stated that in the first two months, the revenue growth of industrial enterprises accelerated, with a year-on-year growth rate 0.7 percentage points higher than that for the entire year of 2024. The continuous growth in revenue of industrial enterprises creates favorable conditions for the recovery of corporate profits.
At the same time, the decline in profits of industrial enterprises has narrowed, and gross profits have improved. From January to February, the year-on-year decline in profits of industrial enterprises above designated size narrowed by 3.0 percentage points compared to the whole of 2024. In terms of gross profit calculated by subtracting operating costs from operating revenue, the gross profit of industrial enterprises above designated size turned from a year-on-year decline of 0.3% in 2024 to a growth of 2.0% from January to February.
Yu Weining emphasized that, overall, the profits of large-scale industrial enterprises have improved. However, it is also necessary to recognize that the external environment has become more complex and severe, with an increase in instability and uncertainty factors. Some industrial enterprises still face many difficulties in production and operation. In the next stage, it is essential to comprehensively expand domestic demand, strengthen innovation-driven initiatives, solidly promote high-quality development, and facilitate the stable recovery of industrial enterprise efficiency.
From the perspective of the three major industries, in January and February, the mining industry achieved a total profit of 141.03 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 25.2%; the manufacturing industry achieved a total profit of 639.51 billion yuan, an increase of 4.8%; the electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply industry achieved a total profit of 130.45 billion yuan, an increase of 13.5%. Compared to the entire year of 2024, the manufacturing industry has shifted from a decrease to an increase in total profits.
Yu Weining stated that in the first two months, the equipment manufacturing industry continued to play a positive role, driving the growth of profits in all designated large-scale industries by 1.4 percentage points, providing important support for the recovery of profits in large-scale industries. Among them, the profit growth in industries such as railways, ships, aerospace, and instruments and meters was relatively rapid, with year-on-year increases of 88.8% and 26.7%, respectively.
At the same time, the profit of the raw material manufacturing industry increased by 15.3% year-on-year, while the total profit for the year 2024 is expected to decline by 22.9%, contributing 1.3 percentage points to the overall profit growth of the large-scale industrial sector.
There have been signs of improvement in the profits of the raw materials manufacturing industry since the fourth quarter of 2024. Previously, the National Bureau of Statistics stated that with the effective implementation of macro policies, domestic consumer demand has been steadily recovering, coupled with the continuous growth of industrial product exports, the profits of both the raw materials manufacturing industry and the consumer goods manufacturing industry have improved.
In January and February, the new round of large-scale equipment upgrades and the trade-in policy for consumer goods continued to show significant effects. Yu Weining pointed out that driven by the policies related to large-scale equipment upgrades, the profits of the general equipment and specialized equipment industries increased by 6.0% and 5.9% year-on-year, respectively. Among them, industries such as general parts manufacturing, mining metallurgy and construction specialized equipment manufacturing, and medical instruments and equipment manufacturing experienced rapid profit growth, with increases of 19.3%, 14.1%, and 10.6%, respectively.
At the same time, with the strengthening and expansion of the old-for-new policy for consumer goods, the continuous innovation of diversified consumption scenarios has driven the improvement of benefits in related industries and their supply chains. Among them, under the impetus of the automobile replacement subsidy policy, the profits of the automotive manufacturing industry increased by 11.7% year-on-year; against the backdrop of the expanding benefits of the old-for-new policy for electronic and household appliances, the profits of industries such as smart consumer device manufacturing, household kitchen appliance manufacturing, and household refrigeration appliance manufacturing grew by 125.5%, 19.9%, and 19.2%, respectively.
"The profit of related product chain industries has also grown rapidly," said Yu Weining, adding that the manufacturing of special accessories for household electrical appliances and the manufacturing of automotive parts and accessories have both achieved double-digit growth year-on-year.
