Chinese manufacturing earnings plummeted by double digits again in the first quarter, but at a slower pace as the economy struggled despite the removal of the zero-COVID policy.
As the pandemic affected the manufacturing sector, the statistics department reported on Thursday that such businesses’ profits fell 21.4% in January and March from a year earlier.
According to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, industrial profit dropped 22.9% in the first two months of the year.
Profits for the sector declined 19.2% in March alone, according to NBS’s data, which occasionally releases monthly figures.
The latest data highlight the bleak situation facing China’s massive factory sector as worldwide demand is affected by slowing global growth and industrial earnings fall 4.0% in 2022. Some experts, though, predict improvement coming in the second half.