Paul Spoonley

That's the strongest start to a year since 2017, bearing the...

Pandemic spike in 2021.

So big driver, high-tech manufacturing, Mark, profits up 47%.

AI, again, the standout.

You've got sectors like optical fibre seeing profits surge more than 300%.

Equipment manufacturing, that's going well.

Exports are rising up around about 15%.

That's the fastest progress.

Pays since 2022, so it's driving factory demand.

Raw materials, they're going well.

Profits in that sector up almost 80%.

And this is all despite the war.

So you think of that and what energy prices are doing.

But China's actually relatively insulated from the shock, thanks to its reliance on coal and renewables.

And it also helps to build large stockpiles of energy.

Iranian oil.

So, yeah, we'll have to see where that goes in weeks and months again, depending on how the conflict goes.

But, yeah, still that weak domestic demand story there and ongoing price competition.

But officials are trying to fix that.

And, yeah, the big question is what comes next.