China pledged to further open up its market as profits at industrial firms declined 22.9 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2023.
That was attributed to the factory sector struggling to claw its way out of the slump caused by Covid-linked disruptions.
The contraction followed a 4 percent fall in industrial profits for the whole of 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, pointing to a downbeat start to the year for factories at large.
The onshore yuan dipped on the lower industrial profits and closed at 6.882 yuan to the US dollar, down 165 pips - a near one-week low along with the midpoint.
This came as Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook and Swire Group chief executive Merlin Bingham Swire yesterday. They had joined other international business leaders to attend the government-organized China Development Forum over the weekend.
Wang talked about stabilizing industrial and supply chains with Cook, and discussed the future investment plan in China and activities to boost domestic consumption with Swire. He also told the executives that China is willing to provide a good environment and services for foreign companies, including Apple.
Against action in the talking stage to processes already under way, 17 percent of Chinese companies have already made layoffs and 43 percent expect to reduce staff or suspend hiring in the next year, according to a survey conducted by AlixPartners.
While China's non-financial outbound direct investment rose 35.7 percent year-on-year to 136 billion yuan (HK$155 billion) during the first two months of 2023 according to the Ministry of Commerce, S&P Global Ratings expects China's economy to exceed its official growth target of about 5 percent this year on its toward recovery.
