China’s Industrial Profits Hit 6,033.74 Billion Yuan as September Growth Jumps to 14.4 Percent
Profits at China’s larger industrial firms rose 15.5 percent year on year in January to September, the National Bureau of Statistics said on 27 October. They reached 6,033.74 billion yuan, equivalent to 898.27 billion dollars on our calculation. The figures cover firms with annual main business revenue of 20 million yuan or more. September alone grew 14.4 percent, up from 4.2 percent in August.
Revenue rose 6.6 percent to 106.21 trillion yuan, or 15.81 trillion dollars on our calculation. Operating costs grew more slowly, by 6.1 percent to 90.30 trillion yuan. The profit margin on revenue widened 0.44 percentage points to 5.68 percent. Cumulative growth eased 0.2 points from 15.7 percent in the first 8 months, on our calculation. A month earlier it lost 1.9 points, on our calculation.
September Lifts the Third Quarter
The monthly path explains the change. Growth slowed from 15.1 percent in June to 11.2 percent in July and 4.2 percent in August, then recovered in September. September profits came to 761.76 billion yuan, or 113.41 billion dollars, on our calculation. That is the largest of the 3 months of the quarter on our calculation, against 689.92 billion in August and 634.07 billion in July.
Third quarter profits totalled 2,085.75 billion yuan on our calculation. That is 34.57 percent of the 9-month figure, on our calculation. The September margin was 5.81 percent on our calculation. That beat the 5.68 percent average for the year to date.
Monthly industrial profits, third quarter 2026
| Month | Profit (CNY bn) | Growth y/y |
|---|---|---|
| July | 634.07 | 11.2% |
| August | 689.92 | 4.2% |
| September | 761.76 | 14.4% |
Monthly levels are our calculation from the bureau’s cumulative January to June, January to July, January to August and January to September totals; growth rates are the bureau’s. The bureau computes growth on a comparable basis, adjusting for changes in the firms it covers and for data corrections, so its rates cannot be worked out directly from levels it published a year earlier. Dollar equivalents in the text are our calculation at the 27 October central parity rate of 6.7171 yuan per dollar, published by the People’s Bank of China.
The cumulative margin has stayed between 5.66 and 5.70 percent from the first half onward. The stronger September month nudged it up, on our reading.
Cumulative profit growth and margin, 2026
| Period | Profit growth | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| January to June | 18.7% | 5.70% |
| January to July | 17.6% | 5.66% |
| January to August | 15.7% | 5.66% |
| January to September | 15.5% | 5.68% |
Margin is total profit divided by operating revenue, as published for each period. Growth for January to May was 18.8 percent.
Electronics and Raw Materials Drive the Gain
Electronics profits rose 103.8 percent to 985.19 billion yuan. That added 9.6 percentage points to total growth, said Yu Weining, chief statistician of the bureau’s Department of Industry. Raw materials manufacturing grew 44.9 percent and added 5.9 points, Yu said. On our calculation, those 2 contributions add up to 15.5 points, the full headline rate. Gains and losses elsewhere in industry broadly offset each other, on our reading.
Electronics earned a margin of 6.60 percent on our calculation, against 5.68 percent for industry as a whole. It took 14.05 percent of total revenue, on our calculation. He tied the gains to demand for AI computing power and advanced storage. Profits at electronic special materials makers rose 220 percent, on our reading of the bureau’s multiple, and at discrete semiconductor makers by 51.7 percent. Computing power and data centre building lifted optical fibre profits by 570 percent, he said, on our reading of the bureau’s multiple.
Non-ferrous metal smelting grew 79.7 percent on demand for copper and aluminium from AI and new energy, he said, and chemicals rose 49.2 percent as higher crude prices improved earnings. Oil, coal and other fuel processing swung from a loss a year earlier to a profit of 84.22 billion yuan. High technology manufacturing profits climbed 52.0 percent. Their share of the total rose 6.2 points to 25.5 percent. That puts last year’s share at 19.3 percent on our calculation.
The 4 weakest of the main industries the bureau listed all lost more ground, on our count. Car makers’ profits fell 22.8 percent, after a 16.0 percent drop in January to August, leaving a margin of 3.33 percent on our calculation. Ferrous metal smelting fell 73.3 percent, after a 62.4 percent drop in January to August. Its margin was 0.44 percent on our calculation. Non-metallic mineral products fell 46.9 percent and power and heat supply 17.9 percent.
Profit by industry, January to September 2026
| Industry | Profit (CNY bn) | Growth y/y |
|---|---|---|
| Electronics | 985.19 | 103.8% |
| Non-ferrous smelting | 442.55 | 79.7% |
| Coal mining | 353.04 | 57.0% |
| Chemicals | 397.76 | 49.2% |
| Electrical machinery | 418.86 | -5.9% |
| Autos | 267.54 | -22.8% |
| Ferrous smelting | 24.34 | -73.3% |
Selected industries from the bureau’s industry table, ranked by growth; levels converted from 100 million yuan units.
Ownership, Costs and Balance Sheets
State controlled firms accelerated to 13.1 percent growth, from 10.3 percent in January to August. Shareholding companies edged up to 20.8 percent. Private firms slowed to 8.7 percent from 10.4 percent. Foreign funded firms, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, slowed to 0.5 percent. Foreign funded firms had the widest margin, at 6.86 percent. Private firms had the narrowest, at 4.12 percent. By size, large firms grew fastest, at 18.8 percent, and small firms slowest, at 8.7 percent.
Profit by sector and ownership, January to September 2026
| Group | Profit (CNY bn) | Growth y/y |
|---|---|---|
| Mining | 881.37 | 38.2% |
| Manufacturing | 4,573.80 | 17.0% |
| Utilities | 578.56 | -14.3% |
| State controlled | 1,939.55 | 13.1% |
| Shareholding | 4,672.76 | 20.8% |
| Foreign funded | 1,337.14 | 0.5% |
| Private | 1,509.13 | 8.7% |
| Total | 6,033.74 | 15.5% |
Ownership groups overlap, so they do not add up to the total; the 3 sectors do, within rounding. Manufacturing earned 75.80 percent of total profit, mining 14.61 percent and utilities 9.59 percent, on our calculation.
Unit costs kept falling. Firms spent 85.02 yuan in operating costs per 100 yuan of revenue, 0.45 yuan less than a year earlier. Expenses fell 0.13 yuan to 8.35 yuan. Mining stood apart with a margin of 21.19 percent, against 4.95 percent in manufacturing.
Customers paid more slowly. The bureau’s average collection period for receivables lengthened by 1.3 days from a year earlier to 71.6 days. Receivables reached 29.77 trillion yuan at the end of September, up 10.0 percent. Finished goods inventories rose 11.6 percent to 7.37 trillion yuan. Their turnover stretched 0.6 days to 21.0 days. The asset liability ratio rose 0.4 points to 58.6 percent.
Why it matters: Industrial profits fund the hiring and capital spending of China’s factories, and the September figure shows August’s slowdown did not carry into the end of the quarter. The gains remain narrow. The contributions of electronics and raw materials add up to the full 15.5 percent growth, on our calculation. Car makers and ferrous metal smelters are earning less than a year ago. The average collection period is also 1.3 days longer than a year earlier.
Outlook: The bureau’s 2026 release calendar sets the next industrial profits report, covering January to October, for 27 November, a date it marks as preliminary. The bureau’s interpretation said the next stage should focus on expanding domestic demand and speeding the shift from old to new growth drivers. October will show whether the September rebound holds and whether electronics keeps lifting the total.
Sources: National Bureau of Statistics, People’s Bank of China, The Edge.
