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BEIJING (Reuters) -Earnings at China’s industrial firms grew at a slower pace in April, with high commodity prices and weaker performance in the consumer goods sector limiting overall profitability from manufacturing.
FILE PHOTO: Workers wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak load steel products for export to a cargo ship at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China May 27, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS
Profits at China’s industrial firms rose 57% year-on-year in April to 768.63 billion yuan ($120.22 billion), down from 92.3% in March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday.
For the January-April period, industrial firms’ profits grew 106% from the same period a year earlier to 2.59 trillion yuan.
Increasing Labor Shortages Drive China to Invest in Automation May 27, 2021
As its population ages, China, the world’s second largest economy, is facing growing shortages in the labor market, according to CNBC.
In an interview with CNBC, Jonathan Woetzel, senior partner at McKinsey said “it’s still rapidly evolving that aging population is a reality … China’s now facing the challenge of potentially getting old before it gets rich.”
Chinese Population Boom Slows
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s population of working age people shrank by more than 5 million over the past 10 years. A contributing factor: residual impacts from the one-child policy, put into place in the 1970’s.
The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCN) says prices of bread and biscuits will be increase by 30 percent to cushion rising cost of operation.
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