Chinese manufacturing contracts in April for the first time in 2023

Activity in the manufacturing industry China contracted in April for the first time in 2023, coming in below analyst forecasts.

The Purchasing Manager Index (PMI, benchmark indicator for the manufacturing sector) published by the National Statistics Office (ONE) it stood at 49.2 points, below the 51.9 in March and far from what was predicted by the experts, who predicted that it would reach 51.5.

In this indicator, a mark above the threshold of 50 points implies growth in activity in the sector compared to the previous month, while one below represents a contraction.

The ONE also published today its PMI for the non-manufacturing sector, which measures activity in the services and construction sectors and which fell from the integer 58.2 registered in March to 56.4.

Zhao Qinghethe institution’s statistician, blamed in a statement the drop in the PMI in the fourth month of the year to the “insufficient market demand”.

Likewise, the expert referred to the “large price fluctuations for some bulk products” as a cause of the purchase price and factory price indices of the main raw materials registering a fall of 4.5 and 3.7 points with respect to March up to 46.4 and 44.9, respectively.

The economic activity expectation index, which measures the confidence of non-manufacturing companies in the development of the market, stood at 54.7, a figure that, despite being relatively high, is the lowest so far in 2023.

The integral index of production of the PMIthe combined x-ray of the manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries, stood at 54.4 points in April, a figure 2.6 points lower than that registered in March.

(With information from EFE)