Posted on 06 May 2024
China's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing industry slipped to 50.4 in April, staying in the expansion zone for the second month despite the on-month fall of 0.4 index point, according to the latest release by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on April 30.
China's manufacturing industry maintained the momentum to recover and improve this month, commented Zhao Qinghe, the NBS' senior statistician.
The growth in manufacturers' production accelerated further in April, with the sub-index for production climbing to 52.9, touching the highest since April 2023 after rising 0.7 point on month.
Meanwhile, the recovery in market demand also extended as the key new orders sub-index remained above the 50-threshold signaling growth at 51.1, though it slid by 1.9 points from March, the NBS data showed.
By scale of enterprises, the PMIs for all sizes of Chinese firms stayed in the expansion territory in April, though large-sized firms saw a decline of 0.8 point in the index compared to the prior month to reach 50.3. Meanwhile, the PMI for medium-sized manufacturers was 0.1 point higher on month at 50.7, while that for small-sized firms remained steady at 50.3.
On the other hand, the pricing index of raw materials procurement surged by 3.5 points from the prior month to register a high reading of 54 this month, indicating an increase in cost pressure among manufacturers.
In fact, although the manufacturing PMI maintained its expansion this month, NBS' survey found that 46% of the surveyed firms reported high raw material costs, up by 4.2 percentage points from the previous month, as Zhao highlighted.
As for the PMI for China's non-manufacturing industry, it retreated by 1.8 points on month to 51.2 after four straight months of gains. Nevertheless, the sub-index for business activities in the construction sector moved up by a slight 0.1 point on month to 56.3, thanks to the accelerated progress of infrastructure construction.
Source:Mysteel Global
