In the first half of the year, the building materials industry continued the “four lows” trend—low growth, low prices, low investment, and low profitability—that has persisted since last year, facing significant downward pressure.

　　 I. The shift in growth rate is becoming increasingly evident. From January to June, the building materials industry above designated size achieved main business revenue of 2.3 trillion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. The growth rate declined by 10.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Although the growth rate of the building materials industry remains higher than the average industrial growth rate, it shows a clear shift from the high-growth pace of over 10% seen in previous years.

　　 II. Production of major products declined. As of June, with the exception of products such as fiberglass yarn, which maintained steady growth, the production growth rates of other major construction materials either slowed down or even declined. In the first half of the year, national cement production reached 1.08 billion tons, a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%; flat glass production totaled 400 million weight boxes, down 4.2% from the previous year; and the growth rates of products such as commercial concrete and concrete pipe (pile and pole) products showed a significant slowdown.

　　 3. Product prices continue to decline. From January to June, the average ex-factory price of building materials and non-metallic products fell by 2.7% compared to the same period last year. The national average ex-factory price of general-purpose cement dropped by 29 yuan per ton compared to the same period last year, representing a decline of 9.3%. In June, the price had fallen below 270 yuan per ton. The average ex-factory price of flat glass decreased by 5.4 yuan per weight box compared to the same period last year, marking a drop of 8%.

　　 4. Corporate profits have declined relatively rapidly. From January to June, the total profits of the building materials industry above designated size are projected to reach 128 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9%. This represents the worst performance since the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and marks a significant decline compared to the 25% growth rate recorded during the same period last year. From January to May, the cement industry’s profits totaled only 9.3 billion yuan, down 64% year-on-year, with a sales profit margin of just 2.8%. Among enterprises above designated size, the proportion of loss-making companies reached 39.7%, an increase of 10.2 percentage points over the previous year. The total losses incurred by these loss-making companies amounted to 10.4 billion yuan, up 72.7% year-on-year. In the flat glass industry, profits stood at 580 million yuan, down 64.8% year-on-year, while the proportion of loss-making companies was 34.5%.

　　 V. The growth rate of fixed-asset investment has slowed down. From January to June, the nationwide building materials industry completed fixed-asset investments above the designated size totaling 685 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. The growth rate declined by 3.8 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Investments in low-energy-consumption and processing-oriented industries—such as stone mining and processing for construction purposes, light-weight building material manufacturing, and technical glass manufacturing—continued to grow relatively rapidly. In contrast, investments in cement manufacturing and flat glass manufacturing fell by 10.7% and 16.7% year-on-year, respectively, indicating further optimization of the investment structure.