Posted on 01 Jun 2023
In May, China's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing industry had inched down for the third month by another 0.4 index point on month to 48.8, or having hovered in the contraction zone for the second month, according to the latest release by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday morning.
China's economic recovery lost some steam this month and still needs to be shored up, said the NBS' senior statistician Zhao Qinghe when commenting the analysis of the latest PMI results.
During this month, both supply and demand in China's manufacturing industry weakened, the NBS data showed - the sub-index for production down by 0.6 point on month to 49.6, and that of new orders was 0.5 point lower from April at 48.3, reflecting slack demand and depressed production in the industry.
In particular, the two sub-indices for the ferrous smelting and fabrication sectors both slipped to below 45, Zhao pointed out.
Meanwhile, China's pricing indices stayed on a downturn this month on the ever-falling prices of certain bulk commodities and dull demand among end-users, as the indices for raw materials procurement and ex-works products dipped by 5.6 points and 3.3 points on month to 40.8 and 41.6 respectively, hitting their recent lows. And the ferrous smelting and fabrication sectors saw their two pricing indices contract to 31 this month.
China's economic recovery has been uneven this year, as the PMI for large-sized firms edged up 0.7 point on month to reach 50 this month, while that for medium-sized companies slid 1.6 points from the prior month to 47.6, and small-sized firms' PMI was 1.1 points lower on month at 47.9, the NBS' data showed.
As for the PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector, it also declined by 1.9 points from April to 54.5 this month. But on a brighter note, the reading has remained above 54 so far this year, suggesting a steady improvement in the sector.
Meanwhile, the sub-index of business activities in China's service sector settled at 53.8 in May, still being 6.7 points higher on year after the on-month fall of 1.3 points. And the sub-index for business activities in the country' s construction sector lost 5.7 points on month to 58.2.
Source:Mysteel Global
