Arabic version: تباطؤ نمو الأرباح الصناعية في الصين إلى 4.2%

According to Cnbc, China’s industrial profits grew 4.2% in August from a year earlier, official data released Monday showed. Manufacturers were grappling with persistent weakness in consumer demand and a sustained rise in energy costs.

For the first eight months of the year, profits at large industrial firms climbed 15.7%, easing from a 17.6% increase in the January-July period. The pace marked a fourth consecutive month of deceleration from the 24.7% rate recorded in April.

Despite the slowing growth, industrial earnings have reversed this year. Profits moved from a barely positive 0.6% gain for all of 2025—the first increase after three straight years of declines—to double-digit growth. The expansion has been led by an artificial-intelligence-driven boom in chips and computing equipment and has coincided with the end of nearly three years of factory-gate deflation.

China’s economic growth softened to its slowest pace in more than three years in the second quarter. The official purchasing managers’ index showed manufacturing activity contracted for two consecutive months in July and August. Retail sales slowed further and the urban investment slump deepened in August, while industrial output rebounded on the back of exports.

Economists expect Beijing to rely more heavily on stimulus to stabilize corporate profitability. Consolidation is accelerating in sectors facing sluggish demand, fierce competition and cutthroat price wars.