Core Insights - The overall profit of industrial enterprises in China has shown signs of improvement, with a year-on-year decline of 6.7% in July, which is a narrowing of 1.6 percentage points compared to June [1][2] - From January to July, the cumulative profit of industrial enterprises decreased by 15.5%, with a reduction of 1.3 percentage points compared to the first half of the year [1][2] Group 1: Profit Improvement - In July, the operating revenue of industrial enterprises decreased by 1.4% year-on-year, which is an improvement of 1.9 percentage points from June [2] - The profit decline for state-owned enterprises narrowed by 0.7 percentage points, while private and foreign-invested enterprises saw declines narrow by 2.8 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively [2] Group 2: Cost Reduction - For the first time this year, the unit cost of industrial enterprises decreased year-on-year, with costs at 85.15 yuan per 100 yuan of revenue, down by 0.55 yuan [3] - The reduction in costs is attributed to lower prices of bulk commodities and reduced raw material cost pressures in downstream industries [3] Group 3: Sector Performance - Among 41 industrial sectors, 13 reported profit growth, with the equipment manufacturing sector showing stable growth, achieving a profit increase of 1.7% from January to July [4] - The electrical machinery sector saw a profit increase of 33.7%, driven by products like photovoltaic equipment and lithium-ion batteries [4] - The profits of the raw materials manufacturing sector decreased by 7.7% in July, but this decline was significantly less than in June, with a reduction of 29.6 percentage points [4][5] Group 4: Electricity and Utilities Sector - The profit of the electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply sector grew by 38.0% from January to July, with a notable increase in profit growth rate compared to the first half of the year [5] - The electricity sector alone experienced a profit growth of 51.2%, benefiting from increased power supply during peak summer demand [5]