Employees work on an automotive display chip production line at a factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on May 22, 2026.
Video Visual China Group | Getty Images
BEIJING – China’s industrial profits rose 24.7% in April from a year earlier, despite widespread signs of slowing economic momentum, official data released on Wednesday showed.
The increase was the highest since November 2023 and accelerated from a 15.8% increase in March, according to financial data provider Wind Information.
In the first four months of this year, industrial profits rose 18.2%, up from 15.5% growth in the first quarter. In the computing and electronics manufacturing sector, the largest sector by profit, profits more than doubled from the same period last year, but on a year-to-date basis, the pace in April has slowed slightly from March.
Among the 10 sectors with the highest profits, the oil and gas extraction industry posted an 8.1% gain in the first four months of this year, reversing the 1.4% decline in the first quarter.
Rising oil prices pushed oil processing industry profits to 40.42 billion yuan ($5.96 billion) in the January-April period, almost double the 22.94 billion yuan recorded in March.
The automaker’s profits fell 16.8% year-on-year, an improvement from the 17.7% decline in the first quarter.
China-EU Chamber of Commerce President Jens Eskelund told reporters on Tuesday that the Chinese government’s efforts to combat excessive competition in sectors such as automobiles are starting to bear fruit, citing a survey of its members earlier this year. But he cautioned that it would take another year or two to confirm this trend.
A five-fold increase in profits in the mining and related sectors also boosted the industry’s overall profit growth, while the iron smelting and rolling sector returned to a full-year surplus as of April after being in the red in the first quarter.
However, the furniture manufacturing industry’s profit decline sharpened to 54.4% in the first four months of this year, worse than the 44.9% recorded in March.
“China’s industrial profit growth accelerated sharply in April, mainly due to higher producer prices amid the global energy shock,” said Hao Zhou, head of research and chief economist at Guotai Junnan International.
“Profitability improvement, however, appears to be uneven and potentially vulnerable, with profit growth concentrated in upstream and high-tech sectors, while many other industries continue to struggle,” he said in a note.
China reported a slowdown in economic growth in April, with industrial production increasing 4.1% year-on-year and retail sales increasing 0.2%. Fixed asset investment fell in the first four months of the year as real estate resistance intensified.
Exports continued to be strong, increasing 14.1% in April compared to the same month last year in US dollar terms. According to data released in early May, imports increased by 25.3%.
The producer price index in April rose 2.8% year-on-year, the largest increase since July 2022.
