中國工業利潤增長加速 Industrial profits add to China economic cheer

Large Chinese companies reported strong profits in March, adding to evidence of an economic rebound despite continued concerns over their debt burdens.

中國大型企業報告3月份實現強勁盈利，爲經濟反彈提供進一步證據，儘管企業債務負擔仍令人擔憂。

Industrial profits rose 11.1 per cent in March to Rmb561bn ($86.5bn), the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, bringing first-quarter growth in profits to 7.4 per cent. The March numbers are the strongest since July 2014.

中國國家統計局(NBS)週三表示，3月份工業利潤增長11.1%，至5610億元人民幣（合865億美元），這使第一季度的利潤增幅達到7.4%。3月份的數字是自2014年7月以來最強勁的。

A 4.8 per cent rise in the first two months of the year ended a seven-month string of negative growth. The March data reinforces that trend.

1-2月份工業利潤4.8%的增長結束了連續7個月的負增長。3月份的數據強化了這一趨勢。

Despite the seemingly strong results, He Ping, an official in the bureau’s industrial department, struck a note of caution in a statement accompanying the data. “The pick-up in March industrial profits was partly due to an improving economy but it was not a balanced and stable recovery,” Mr He said.

儘管利潤數據看似強勁，但國家統計局工業司官員何平在伴隨數據發佈的一份聲明中作出了謹慎的點評。“3月份工業利潤增速回升，既有經濟向好因素的影響，也帶有不均衡、不穩定和恢復性質，”他寫道。

China’s economy grew at 6.7 per cent in the first quarter, masking a growing divergence between the sectors and regions that are performing well and those reliant on heavy industry, oil or coal, which are struggling.

中國經濟在第一季度增長6.7%，這掩蓋了行業和地區之間越來越大的差異：有些行業和地區表現良好，而那些依賴重工業、石油或煤炭的行業和地區正在苦苦掙扎。

Data from the statistics bureau reflect that divergence. The growth in industrial profits was led by chemical companies, up 20.8 per cent, and agricultural or food processing companies, up 12.1 per cent.

國家統計局的數據反映了這種差異。1-3月份，引領工業利潤增長的是化工企業（增長20.8%）以及農產品或食品加工企業（增長12.1%）。

Meanwhile, profits for coal miners fell by a startling 92.6 per cent, while a loss was reported for oil and gas producers.

與此同時，煤礦企業的利潤暴跌92.6%，而石油和天然氣生產商報告虧損。

Industrial companies’ debt also rose by 5.3 per cent to Rmb55.22tn at the end of the quarter, the statistics bureau said. China’s corporate debt burden is a growing concern for Beijing, and policymakers fear that excessive industrial capacity will depress corporate returns if not addressed.

國家統計局表示，工業企業的債務也上升了5.3%，在第一季度末達到55.22萬億元人民幣。中國的企業債務負擔是北京方面越來越關注的問題，同時政策制定者擔心，工業產能過剩如果不加以解決，將壓低企業的回報。

Profits from investment and non-core activities “increased dramatically”, accounting for 30.5 per cent of March profits, the bureau said.

國家統計局表示，投資收益和營業外淨收入對3月份利潤增長“拉動明顯”，在3月份工業新增利潤中佔30.5%。

That is in line with concerns that Chinese companies may have taken on more debt, helping to drive the apparent pick-up in first-quarter activity but delaying more painful but lasting fundamental restructuring. The concerns are greater for the state-owned companies, which for years had easy access to debt at low, state-set interest rates which in some cases they lent on to the much higher-interest shadow banking sector.

這與以下這種擔憂相吻合：中國企業可能背上了更多債務，這有助於推動首季經濟活動的明顯回升，但推遲了更爲痛苦但具有持久效益的根本重組。圍繞國有企業的擔憂尤爲嚴重，這些企業多年來能夠以國家規定的較低利率輕鬆借到資金，在某些情況下，它們會轉手放貸給利率高得多的影子銀行業。

The size of debt at the seven large state-owned coal companies in Shanxi province, the struggling heart of China’s coal country, is equivalent to the size of the entire provincial economy, the 21st Century Business Herald, a national newspaper, reported this week.

據中國的全國性報紙《21世紀經濟報道》本週報道，在山西省這個陷入困境的中國煤炭腹地，七家大型國有煤炭企業的債務規模相當於整個省的經濟規模。