An employee works on the production line of an automaker in Jinhua, Zhejiang province. HU XIAOFEI/FOR CHINA DAILY
China's industrial sector maintained robust momentum in the first four months, with profits at major industrial firms growing at a faster pace, underscoring the resilience of the world's second-largest economy amid mounting external uncertainties, officials and experts said on Wednesday.
Strong gains in equipment manufacturing and high-tech sectors — together with accelerating profit growth in the raw materials sector — should undergird steady expected industrial expansion in the coming months, as policy efforts to curb "involution-style" competition continue to take effect.
However, analysts said structural divergences in the recovery still warrant attention, as profit pressures persist in some downstream and traditional sectors, including property-linked industries and consumer goods manufacturing, highlighting the need for more targeted policy support.
In the first four months, industrial enterprises with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.95 million) saw their total profits climb 18.2 percent year-on-year to 2.44 trillion yuan, 2.7 percentage points faster than the growth recorded in the first quarter, said the National Bureau of Statistics.
