BEIJING, Jan 27 (Reuters) - China logged its first annual rise in industrial profit in four years in 2025, official data showed on Tuesday, as a government call to end price wars and other excessive competitive
practices eased strain on businesses.
Weak growth in the $19 trillion economy prompted rebukes for sectors such as autos and solar panels that brought an end to a race to the bottom. That has yet to halt a years-long decline in producer prices but an export boom has helped offset weak consumption at home.
Profit at industrial firms increased 5.3% in December from the same month a year earlier, reversing a 13.1% on-year fall in November, showed data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
For the whole of 2025, profit was up 0.6%, versus a 0.1% increase in the first 11 months. That marked the first annual gain in four years.
The auto industry ended last year with a 0.6% rise in profit, reversing an 8% fall in 2024, helped by strong exports.
Export diversification away from the U.S. cushioned the economy from the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports.
State-owned firms saw profit down 3.9% last year, while privately run firms' profit stayed flat and foreign firms recorded a 4.2% gain, the data showed.
Industrial profit figures cover firms with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan ($2.88 million) from their main operations.
($1 = 6.9542 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li and Ryan Woo; Editing by Louise Heavens, Jacqueline Wong and Christopher Cushing)
