Industrial profits at large firms in China rose 21 per cent in 2017, more than doubling their pace of ascent from 2016 to notch the fastest growth in six years as cuts to overcapacity helped bolster prices at the factory gate. But December’s monthly reading hinted at slower growth in the months ahead.
Industrial profits rose 10.8 per cent year on year in December, slowing from November’s rise of 14.9 per cent and coming in at the slowest pace in 12 months.
But the sluggish end-of-year growth still left most companies in good shape for the whole of 2017, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, which said that 37 out of 41 large-scale industrial companies had notched an annual rise in profit last year, while three saw profits fall and one held steady.