Activity in China’s manufacturing industry contracted in August for the fourth consecutive month, according to the purchasing managers’ index (PMI), the sector’s benchmark indicator, released Saturday by the Asian country’s National Statistics Office (NSO).
PMI stands at 49.1 points in Augustbelow the 49.4 it had marked the previous month and below what analysts expectedwhich they expected to be at 49.5.
In this indicator, a mark above the 50 point threshold represents a growth in sector activity compared to the previous month, while the one below represents a contraction.
All five sub-indices that make up the manufacturing PMI were in contraction territory: production, new orders – keys to demand -, delivery times, employment and stocks of raw materials.
A statistician Zhao Qinghe attributed the “decline in the level of prosperity” to factors such as “high temperatures and rain” in the eighth month of the year.
“Production and demand have slowed down”Zhao stressed, also highlighting the significant declines recorded by the purchasing price index of major raw materials and factories, affected by “the lack of demand and fluctuations in the price of crude oil.”
However, the statistician also stressed positive data such as the fact that the PMI of large manufacturing companies continued to grow or the increase recorded in sectors such as the manufacturing of high-tech products.
The ONE also published its PMI for the non-manufacturing sectorwhich measures activity in the services and construction sectors and which accelerated from 50.2 in July to 50.3 in the eighth month of the yeara mark that keeps the indicator in the expansion zone, as during the rest of the year.
He Construction sector slows down from 51.2 to 50.6 points, while that of services increased from 50 to 50.2.
The composite PMI index, which combines the evolution of manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries, saw a slight decrease from 50.2 in July to the figure of 50.1 recorded in August.
