BEIJING — Profits earned by Chinese industrial companies rose 17.3 percent in December from the same month a year earlier, to 895.2 billion renminbi, official data released Sunday showed, as a fourth-quarter recovery helped offset poorer corporate results in the third.
The data from the National Bureau of Statistics gave the latest sign of a gathering rebound in activity in China, the world’s second-largest economy after that of the United States. The December increase in profits to $143.91 billion was smaller than the 22.8 percent increase in November but still marked the third-fastest growth last year.
Industrial profits totaled 5.56 trillion renminbi in 2012, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said on its Web site. That was up from a 3 percent increase in the first 11 months of 2012, compared with 2011.
The Chinese economy grew at a rate of 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter, snapping a streak of seven consecutive quarters of slowdown.
Among 41 sectors surveyed by the bureau, 29 reported rising profits last year, led by a 69 percent jump for power generation companies, a nearly 21 percent increase for food processing companies and an 8 percent rise for makers of electrical equipment.
But some sectors are still struggling. Profits at steel companies tumbled 37 percent, while earnings for chemical companies fell 6 percent.
According to a Reuters poll, analysts predict that China’s annual economic growth will rebound slightly to 8.1 percent this year.
The HSBC flash purchasing managers’ index this month, the earliest indicator of China’s industrial activity, showed growth in the factory sector accelerating to a two-year high in January.
Volvo’s China joint venture
Volvo of Sweden said it would surpass Daimler as the world’s biggest maker of heavy trucks after agreeing to set up a venture in China with Dongfeng Motor Group, Reuters reported from Beijing.
Volvo will pay 5.6 billion renminbi for a 45 percent stake in the joint venture, giving it access to China, where it currently has only a minor presence. The truck maker is a separate company from Volvo Cars, which Ford Motor sold to Geely Automobile of China in 2010.
China was “a little bit of a missing link in our global strategy” for trucks, Volvo’s chief executive, Olof Persson, said in a conference call with analysts and journalists. He said the agreement meant Volvo would “get a major foothold and share in the world’s largest truck market.”
The two companies will form a new venture, Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles, after the Chinese company buys out Nissan Motor of Japan in their joint venture in medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Dongfeng is the world’s second-largest producer of heavy-duty trucks and China’s biggest with total sales of 186,000 in 2011.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/business/global/rebound-in-chinese-industries-gains-steam.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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