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China’s zombie firms by industry

Cory
January 9, 2017

The tweet below is courtesy of our friend Ronald-Peter Stoeferle from Incrementum AG based in Austria.

I did some research on the firm that issued this stat, the National Academy of Development and Strategy. As far as I can tell they are a reputable organization that is (for the most part) outside of government.

To clarify, “zombie” firms are companies that consistently lose money but continue to survive. Although published back in July of 2016 the chart is still noteworthy today. Here is the chart…

 

Now we could argue that the US also has a number of companies that lose money on a consistent basis – Uber is one that comes to my mind immediately. In fact all countries have zombie companies but the percentages that the chart above claims are scary.

It is noteworthy that Steel companies lead the pact at just over 51%. This could have something to do with the overbuilding we hear so much about in China. While this chart does not give a comprehensive picture of China is does show that the Country is keeping many companies alive that without easy/free government money would have long ago collapsed.

I just wanted to share this to see what you all thought. How do you think this compares to the US and other countries around the world?

Discussion
1 Comment
    CFS
    Jan 09, 2017 09:58 AM

    Isn’t it funny how China’s “ghost cities” are now getting occupied ……even complaining about pollution?