China's industrial profits rise 28.2% y-o-y in October

[BEIJING] Profits at Chinese industrial firms rose 28.2 per cent year-on-year in October to 642.91 billion yuan (S$131 billion), official data showed on Friday, pointing to a steady recovery in the manufacturing sector after it was hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Profits rose for a sixth straight month in October, after increasing by 10.1 per cent year-on-year in September, the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

For the January-October period, industrial firms' profits rose 0.7 per cent on an annual basis, after falling 2.4 per cent in the first nine months of 2020 compared with the same period last year.

Liabilities at industrial firms rose 6.8 per cent on-year at end-October, versus a 6.6 per cent growth as of end-September.

China's industrial sector has seen an impressive recovery from the coronavirus shock earlier this year, helped by resilient demand for the country's exports.

Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday he expects Chinese economic activity to return to a reasonable range next year.

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The industrial profit data covers large firms with annual revenue of over 20 million yuan from their main operations.

REUTERS