Orders up but profits still at low tide for China shipbuilders

An increase in orders at China’s shipbuilding companies this year belies more cuthroat conditions in the industry, Caixin reported, citing data from the Chinese Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry. Said data show that the industry received orders totaling 47.4 million tons of cargo capacity from January to August, year-on-year growth of 35.8%, but that profits of the 87 major domestic shipbuilders over the same period stand at only RMB3.38 billion – a drop of 13.6%. While companies generally make annual profits of around 5% according to industry sources, increasing labor and equipment costs have them struggling to break even.