The Industrial Profits Grow Faster in the First Three Quarters of 2018

　　According to the financial data of industrial enterprises released by the National Bureau of Statistics on October 27, the total profits of industrial enterprises above designated size in China increased by 14.7% in the first three quarters of 2018, with growth rate 1.5% lower than than that from January to August, during which the profits increased by 4.1% in September. In this regard, Dr. He Ping, from the Department of Industrial statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, gave his interpretation.

　　I. The industrial profits maintain a rapid growth in the first three quarters on the whole

　　The profits of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 11.6% in the first quarter, 17.2% in the first half of the year and 14.7% in the first three quarters, maintaining a rapid growth on the whole. In the first three quarters, the profit rate of main business income of industrial enterprises was 6.44%, increased by 0.29% on a year-on-year basis.

　　II. New profits mainly come from industries such as steel, building materials, oil and chemistry

　　In the first three quarters, the profits increased by 71.1% in the steel industry, 44.9% in the building materials industry, 4 times in the oil mining industry, 30.8% in the oil processing industry and 24.5% in the chemical industry. These five industries contributed 72.4% together to the profit growth of industrial enterprises above designated size.

　　III. Enterprise cost goes down

　　In the first three quarters, the cost and expense per RMB 100 of main business income of industrial enterprises above designated size totaled RMB 92.6, declined by RMB 0.31 on a year-on-year basis; among which, the cost per RMB 100 of main business income was RMB 84.31, declined by RMB 0.29 on a year-on-year basis.

　　IV. Asset-liability ratio declines

　　At the end of September, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size was 56.7%, 0.4% down over the same period last year. Specifically, the asset-liability ratio of state-owned holding enterprises was 59%, 1.6% down over the same period last year. The effect of bringing the leverage down is more remarkable in state-owned enterprises.

　　Judging from the current situation in September, the growth rate of industrial profit slowed down compared to that in August mainly due to the factors such as growth slowdown of industrial production and marketing, price growth decline and higher profit base of the previous year.