CX Briefing: China’s Industrial Profit Drop Narrows

A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:

Industrial prospects look up: Major Chinese industrial companies’ profits fell 4.3% year-on-year in June, official data show. This represents a 4.8-percentage-point improvement from May’s 9.1% decline. However, the decline for January through June widened by 0.7 percentage points to 1.8%. The industry’s improved performance in June was thanks largely to a major rebound in the equipment manufacturing sector, which saw profits turn around from a 2.8% decline to an increase of 9.6%. In this sector, automakers were a bright spot, with their overall profits almost doubling on rapid growth in sales. This was driven by car companies’ promotions and an increase in investment returns of major companies.