China's industrial profits growth accelerates in June

China's industrial profits rose at a faster pace in June, official data showed on Saturday, as a slew of stimulus policy measures took effect gradually and industrial production improved.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Saturday that industrial enterprises with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) saw their total profits surge 3.6 percent year-on-year in June after a 0.7 percent rise in May.

For the January-June period, China's industrial profits increased 3.5 percent year-on-year, following a 3.4 percent growth in the first five months.

NBS statistician Yu Weining said the industrial profits improved with the implementation of macroeconomic policy measures and steady growth in industrial production.

Meanwhile, Yu noted that the broader economy is still facing some pressures, from the lack of effective domestic demand as well as a complicated and grim external environment, calling for further moves to consolidate the foundation for recovery.

In the next step, more efforts should be made to actively expand domestic demand, foster new quality productive forces in line with local conditions, create new growth drivers and cultivate new competitive edges, Yu said.

Among the 41 major industrial sectors surveyed, 32 saw year-on-year growth in their profits in the first half of the year, NBS data showed.

In the first half of the year, profits recorded by industrial firms that offer supplies of electricity, heat, gas and water grew by 23.1 percent year-on-year, and profits recorded by manufacturing companies rose by 5 percent. Meanwhile, profits recorded by mining firms shrank 10.8 percent.

Notably, profits at equipment manufacturing enterprises surged 6.6 percent in the first six months, 3.1 percentage points higher than that of the overall industrial profits. Due to the rapid production and sales growth of high-tech products like smartphones, integrated circuits and new energy vehicles, profits in the electronics and automobiles industries surged 24 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.

According to a breakdown of the NBS data, State-owned firms saw earnings rise 0.3 percent year-on-year in the first six months. Foreign firms booked an 11 percent rise and private-sector companies recorded a 6.8 percent growth.