China’s Industrial Profits Tumble, Deepening Economic Gloom

An employee works on the production line at Jingjin filter press factory in Dezhou, Shandong province, China, on Aug. 25, 2022. Siyi Liu/Reuters

BEIJING—Annual profits at China’s industrial firms extended a double-digit decline in the first five months as softening demand squeezed margins, reinforcing hopes of more policy support to bolster a stuttering post-COVID economic recovery.

The 18.8 percent year-on-year slump in profits came on top of the 20.6 percent contraction in January-April, and added to evidence of an economy that was losing steam on many fronts in May including retail sales, exports and property investment as the youth jobless rate scaled a fresh high of 20.8 percent.