By XIN Yuan
The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for China’s manufacturing sector edged up to 49.3 in July from 49 in June, remaining below the 50-point mark that separates contraction from growth, and signaling a fourth consecutive contraction in manufacturing.
Despite the slight improvement, new export orders remained notably low.
Specifically, the sub-index for production came in at 50.2 in July, still in the expansion zone but down 0.1 points from June. PMI of new orders improved to 49.5, up by 0.9 points, a slight recovery. However, manufacturing costs increased. The official gauges for purchasing prices rose by 7.4 and output prices by 4.7 points in July. New export orders declined for the fifth month.
In response, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized infrastructure investment, consumer spending and the real estate market as in need of greater attention.
Economists expect manufacturing PMI to stabilize and perhaps rise in August and September due to policy support while cautioning that global economic pressures may limit the expansion.
China’s non-manufacturing PMI came in at 51.5 in July, down from 53.2 a month earlier. Official composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and non-manufacturing, came in at 51.1 compared with 52.3 in June.
