China’s major industrial enterprises sustained strong financial momentum across the first four months of the year, official figures show. 

The data, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday, covers industrial enterprises with annual primary business revenue of at least 20 million yuan (US$2.95 million). Total profits for these firms climbed 18.2 percent year-on-year to 2.43 trillion yuan (US$357 billion), a growth rate that was 2.7 percentage points faster than the increase recorded in the first quarter.

The strength was particularly evident in April, when major industrial businesses posted a 24.7 percent year-on-year profit rise, a notable acceleration from the 15.8 percent growth seen in March.

According to Yu Weining, a statistician with the NBS, the robust performance was achieved through the effective implementation of more proactive macroeconomic policies. He noted that industrial production maintained a relatively rapid pace of growth and industrial product prices continued to recover, both contributing to the faster profit growth.

New growth drivers were highlighted as playing a key role in improving the profitability of industrial firms, specifically the strong gains in high-tech and equipment manufacturing. 

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In the first four months of the year, profits in equipment manufacturing grew 15.4 percent, contributing 5.4 percentage points to overall profit growth. Meanwhile, high-tech manufacturing profits jumped 44.8 percent, contributing 7.8 percentage points to the total increase.

Profit growth was also seen accelerating in the raw material manufacturing sector, which surged 88.1 percent year-on-year, a 10.2 percentage point acceleration from the first quarter, and contributing 10.3 percentage points to the overall profit growth.

In a breakdown of sectors for the first four months, mining firms recorded a 26 percent year-on-year profit increase, and manufacturing companies saw 20.4 percent growth. Conversely, profits for firms supplying electricity, heat, gas, and water declined by 1.9 percent.

Despite these gains, Yu cautioned that the external environment remains volatile. He stated that a domestic imbalance between strong supply and weak demand is still prominent, leading to continued production and operational difficulties for some enterprises. Moving forward, he called for stronger macroeconomic policy support to further expand domestic demand and optimise supply.