China's industrial profits fell last month at the fastest pace in a year, amid difficulties faced by Xi Jinping's economic planners in managing the effects of industrial overcapacity and weak consumer confidence, according to the FT. Profits of industrial companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) fell 13.1 percent in November from a year earlier, according to data released Saturday by the National Bureau of Statistics, following a 5.5 percent decline in October. The sharp decline in November reduced cumulative profit growth since the beginning of the year to just 0.1% above the level of the same period in 2024, down from a 1.9% advance recorded in the January-October period. China's economy is struggling to identify sustainable long-term growth engines after the collapse of its debt-fueled real estate sector, now entering its fifth year of crisis. Although China has relied on exports of low-cost goods to support overall economic growth, the world's second-largest economy is plagued by deflationary pressures, weak domestic demand and falling investment. The producer price index has been in negative territory for three years. The latest industry data highlights the difficulties policymakers are facing in trying to boost business and consumer confidence, despite an easing of the US-China trade war and a boom in high-tech exports. Yu Weining, chief statistician of the National Bureau of Statistics, said China's economy is facing «structural adjustment pressures» as it transitions from old engines to new growth engines, adding that the international environment is marked by «numerous unstable and uncertain factors». The central government in Beijing has long resisted calls from economists — both inside and outside China — to roll out a broad stimulus package and implement deep welfare reforms to improve economic sentiment and restart growth. Authorities have also increasingly targeted what they call neijuan, or «involution» — excessive industrial competition, which they see as partly responsible for the overproduction that puts downward pressure on prices.