Impact of Coronavirus / China's industrial companies lost 36.7% in January-March quarter, government companies were hit worse than private companies

 The oil, coal and other fuels industry's net profit fell the most by 187 per cent. Other industries most affected by coronavirus are machine and equipment repair industry (-84.3 percent), automation (-80.2 percent), chemical industry (-56.5 percent), textile (-38.8 percent), food manufacturing (-27.4 percent) and Pharmaceutical industry (-15.7 per cent) was involved.

·      Government companies' profit fell 45.5 percent in first quarter

·      Profit of private companies declined by 29.5 percent during this period.

The first quarter of 2020 (January-March) due to the coronavirus epidemic recorded a steep decline in profits of China's major industrial companies. According to the official data released on Monday, the profit of these companies declined by 36.7 per cent year-on-year during this period. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated that these companies reported net profit of 781.45 billion yuan ($ 110.43 billion) in the January-March quarter.

Business of companies affected the most in January and February

According to NBS, the net profit of these companies declined by 38.3 per cent in January and February. The net profit of these companies declined by 34.9 per cent in March. This means that the situation has improved slightly in March. China's industrial companies recorded a 6.3 per cent decline in net profit in December 2019, before the lockdown to prevent the epidemic. The profitability of these companies declined by 3.3 per cent for the entire year of 2019.

Decline in net profit of 39 sectors out of 41

NBS lists 41 industrial sectors. Of these, 39 sectors reported a decline in the January-March quarter. The remaining two sectors, however, gained momentum during this period. Private companies performed slightly better than government companies. In the first quarter, profit of government companies declined by 45.5 per cent. Private companies saw a 29.5 per cent fall in profits.

Oil, coal and other fuel industry's condition is worst

The industries most affected by coronavirus are oil, coal and other fuel industries (-187 per cent), machine and equipment repair industry (-84.3 per cent), automation (-80.2 per cent), chemical industry (-56.5 per cent), textiles ( -38.8 per cent), food manufacturing (-27.4 per cent) and pharmaceutical industries (-15.7 per cent). On the other hand, the tobacco industry grew by 28.5 per cent. Benefit of agriculture and processed food industry also increased by 11.2 percent. NBS expert Zhang Weihua said business is picking up. Of the 41 companies analyzed in March, figures for 28 were found to be better this year than the first two months.