China's industrial profits fall 3.3% in 2024, third year in the red

BEIJING, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Profits at China's industrial firms fell for a third straight year in 2024, official data showed on Monday, underlining the urgency for policymakers to step up support for an economy facing tariff threats from the new Trump administration.

Industrial profits grew 11% in December from the same month last year, following a 7.3% drop in November, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

For the whole year, earnings at industrial firms dropped 3.3%, extending a 4.7% decline in the January-November period, NBS data showed. That compares with a 2.3% decline in 2023.

China's GDP grew 5% last year, reaching the official target, following extensive government stimulus measures. But the economy has been beset by a stuttering property market, flagging domestic demand and fragile business confidence.

Factory-gate prices in 2024 extended into a second straight year of declines, official data showed, ripping into corporate profits and workers' incomes.

Policymakers in the second half of the year rolled out multiple rounds of economic stimulus measures, including expanding a consumer goods trade-in scheme to spur demand.

December economic data, released earlier this month, indicated imbalanced growth, with industrial output outperforming retail sales, and unemployment rate ticking higher.

Exports gained momentum in December, in part fuelled by factories rushing inventory overseas as they braced for heightened trade risks under a Trump presidency.

U.S President Donald Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, said the next day his administration was discussing a 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports.

Profits at state-owned firms dropped 4.6% in 2024, those at foreign firms fell 1.7% and private-sector companies recorded a 0.5% rise in earnings, according to a breakdown of the NBS data.

Industrial profit numbers cover firms with annual revenues of at least 20 million yuan ($2.74 million) from their main operations. ($1 = 7.3125 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Liz Lee, Yukun Zhang and Kevin Yao; Editing by Toby Chopra and Shri Navaratnam)