China Industrial Profits Plunge at Start of 2023 as Demand Lags

Monday marked the first time China reported profit data in 2023. The first two months of the year are typically combined to account for distortion effects because of the Lunar New Year holiday. Photo: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Profits at industrial firms in China plunged in the first two months of the year as factories had yet to fully recover from a Covid-induced slump and prices continued to decline.

Industrial profits in the January-February period dropped 22.9% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. For the entirety of 2022, profits declined 4% from the prior year.