China's economy is maintaining strong momentum as major industrial enterprises posted solid profit growth in the first quarter, pointing to robust economic resilience of the world's second-largest economy despite mounting external uncertainties, officials and experts said on Monday.
The solid profit performance, they said, was most evident in equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing sectors, suggesting that front-loaded macro policy support is feeding through to corporate earnings while China's industrial upgrade continues to gain traction.
However, analysts cautioned that the recovery in industrial profitability may not yet be on firm footing, given the uneven profit improvement across sectors and continued pressure from tighter global energy markets linked to Middle East tensions, highlighting the need for ramping up targeted policy support.
During the first quarter, industrial enterprises with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.82 million) saw their total profits rise 15.5 percent year-on-year to 1.696 trillion yuan, 0.3 percentage point faster than the growth recorded in the January-February period, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.
The robust growth in industrial profits, according to Yu Weining, a statistician with the bureau, was supported by more proactive macroeconomic policies.
"In the first quarter, amid multiple economic headwinds, policymakers stepped up macroeconomic regulation and front-loaded more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies, helping the industrial economy recover steadily," Yu said.
Emerging growth drivers were a key contributor. Strong gains in equipment manufacturing and high-tech sectors, coupled with double-digit profit growth in the raw materials manufacturing sector, pointed to continued improvement in industrial firms' profitability, Yu said.
According to the NBS, profits in equipment manufacturing industries surged 21 percent year-on-year during the first three months, contributing 6.8 percentage points to the overall profit growth of major industrial firms. Meanwhile, profits in high-tech manufacturing jumped 47.4 percent, contributing 7.9 percentage points to overall industrial profit growth.
Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, said industrial profits are likely to recover, though the pace of improvement may moderate in the coming months.
Yuan Haixia, dean of the research institute at China Chengxin International Credit Rating, cautioned that stronger-than-expected oil prices fueled by tensions in the Middle East may support profit growth in upstream raw materials sectors, but such gains have yet to be filtered through to downstream manufacturers, whose margins remain under pressure amid relatively weak end-market demand.
Jeremy Zook, lead analyst for China at Fitch Ratings, echoed Yuan's concerns about the potential spillover effects from higher energy prices.
"Although China is relatively insulated from the global energy shock, it is not immune to its effects. If the crisis persists for an extended period, there could be potential spillovers to China's trade and manufacturing sectors," Zook said.
Yuan noted that the durability of the industrial profit recovery will hinge on stronger domestic demand and smoother transmission along the industrial chain, as domestic demand remains relatively weak, underscoring the need for more targeted policy support to ease pressure on downstream manufacturers and shore up domestic demand.
答题技巧点拨：
1. 顺序原则定位法（The Order Principle）
技巧：六级阅读的篇幅虽长，但题目顺序通常与文章内容的先后顺序基本一致。
应用：如果第2题问到了文中的某个数字，那么第3题的数字题答案通常不会出现在第2题定位句之前。利用这个规律，可以缩小扫描范围，避免从头找起。
2. 题干关键词锁定（Keyword Locking）
技巧：不要只盯着数字看，要锁定题干中的专有名词（如机构名、地名、公司名）或特定修饰语。
应用：
例如题目问：“What was the profit growth rate of high-tech manufacturing?”
在文中寻找时，不要先找数字，而要先找“high-tech manufacturing”这个短语。一旦定位到这个词组，其前后的数字才是你要关注的。
常见陷阱：文中可能出现“Equipment manufacturing grew 21%”，这只是用来迷惑的干扰项。
3. 辨别数字属性（Identifying the Attribute）
技巧：六级阅读中，同一个数字可能有不同的含义（如：增长率 vs. 贡献率 vs. 总量）。必须看清题干问的是哪个维度。
应用：
15.5% = 总体增长率 (Overall growth rate)
47.4%= 高科技制造业自身的增长率 (Growth rate of a specific sector)
7.9 percentage points = 对整体增长的贡献率 (Contribution to overall growth)
做题口诀：看清问的是“rate”（率）还是“point”（点），是“total”（总量）还是“per capita”（人均）。
4. 逻辑关系排除法（Logical Elimination）
技巧：关注数字周围的逻辑连接词，这决定了数字的正负或趋势。
应用：转折词（but, however, yet）往往意味着前面的数字是“看似好”，后面的才是“真实情况”。例如：“Profits rose 10%, butcosts increased 20%.” 如果问负面影响，答案就是成本。
比较级（more than, less than, twice） 注意题目是否涉及简单的数学计算（如：今年是100，比去年增长了25%，问去年是多少？）。
用自己的方式做题
成功考上社工
点击左侧二维码识别关注我吧！
