According to data jointly released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China and the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing on Sunday, the official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) recorded 49.2 in April, down 2.7 percentage points from the previous month, and fell again after three months. When the critical point is broken, the economic level will drop.
The National Bureau of Statistics interpreted that this was mainly due to factors such as insufficient market demand and the rapid recovery of the manufacturing industry in the first quarter to form a high base.
Previously, the official manufacturing PMI in March was 51.9, 0.7 percentage points lower than the previous month, but it was still in the expansion range for the third consecutive month, and the level of prosperity was the second highest in nearly two years.
In February, the manufacturing PMI rebounded sharply to 52.6, the highest since April 2012, showing the rapid recovery of the manufacturing industry since China lifted the control of the new crown epidemic in December last year.
In January this year, the PMI rebounded to 50.1, returning to the expansion range after three months. The value fell to 47.0 in December last year.
Affected by repeated outbreaks of the new crown epidemic, in 2022, the official manufacturing PMI will fluctuate on the ups and downs line. The high point of the year was 50.2 in June and the low point was 47.4 in April, the lowest value since February 2020.
In February 2020, the official manufacturing PMI hit a record low at 35.7, due to the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic in late January.
The April PMI was also well below market expectations.
According to a survey by the “Wall Street Journal”, the median forecast given by the surveyed economists showed that China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index may have fallen to 51.4 in April from 51.9 in March.
A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion in manufacturing activity, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
Specifically, the production index and new order index were 50.2 and 48.8 respectively, down 4.4 and 4.8 percentage points from the previous month, and the production index was still above the critical point.
The price index dropped significantly. According to the Bureau of Statistics, due to the recent price fluctuations of some bulk commodities and other factors, the purchase price index and ex-factory price index of major raw materials were 46.4 and 44.9 respectively, down 4.5 and 3.7 percentage points from the previous month.
Among them, the PMI of the equipment manufacturing industry was 50.1, 2.9 percentage points lower than the previous month, but still higher than the critical point. The production index and new order index were both higher than 51.0, and the equipment manufacturing industry continued to expand.
In addition, the production and business activity expectation index is 54.7, which continues to be at a relatively high level, and enterprises have stable confidence in the recent market development.
The Bureau of Statistics also announced that the comprehensive PMI output index in April was 54.4, 2.6 percentage points lower than that of the previous month, and still at a relatively high operating level. The manufacturing production index and non-manufacturing business activity index, which make up the composite PMI output index, were 50.2 and 56.4, respectively.
The composite PMI output index in March was 57.0, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous month. The manufacturing production index and non-manufacturing business activity index, which make up the composite PMI output index, were 54.6 and 58.2, respectively.
China has released the monthly comprehensive PMI output index since January 2018, which is used to monitor the comprehensive output index of the country or region’s overall economic development and cyclical changes in the current period, making up for the fact that manufacturing PMI and non-manufacturing PMI can only reflect the industry Insufficient state of development in the field.
(This article is from Dow Jones Newswires)
Related Reading:
China’s official non-manufacturing PMI fell to 56.4 in April, the second highest in the year