Jan-July industrial profits jump 21%
By Su Bei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-23 06:04

During the January-July period, prices for energy and raw materials rose 9.7 per cent year-on-year, and producer prices rose 5.6 per cent.

During the same period, consumer prices rose just 2.2 per cent.

Zhang said the high prices of products such as oil and steel, as well as fierce market competition, will continue to squeeze industrial companies' profit margins in the future.

In the first seven months, coal producers' profits surged 81.5 per cent year-on-year, while crude oil producers' earnings rose 74.7 per cent and profits of producers of non-ferrous metals jumped 136.4 per cent.

However, building materials producers' profits fell 17.3 per cent, and earnings for transport equipment manufacturers are down 38.6 per cent.

Power industry profits also dropped 1.5 per cent.

The statistics bureau said net losses stood at 122.8 billion yuan (US$15.1 billion), up 55.5 per cent.

Profits at State-owned firms and firms in which the State holds a majority stake grew 18.5 per cent year-on-year during the first seven months, while collectively-owned firms saw profits rise 29.1 per cent.

Earnings of shareholding companies rose 30.2 per cent, and private companies' profits were up 40.1 per cent.

However, profits of overseas-funded firms grew only 1.7 per cent.

Domestic media reports claimed some overseas-funded companies played down their profits to evade taxes.

Officials from the State Administration of Taxation estimate foreign-funded companies evade some 30 billion (US$3.6 billion) of tax every year.