Business & Economy

Chinese manufacturing rebounds in November after 2-month contraction

Shanghai, China, Nov 30 (EFE).- China’s manufacturing industry rebounded in November after two consecutive months of contraction, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, a benchmark to measure China’s factory activity, rose to 50.1 in November from October’s 49.2. The PMI in September was 49.6, its first reduction since February 2020.

In this index, published monthly by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), a figure above the 50-point threshold signals growth in the industry, and below that, contraction.

The November data also beats the expectations of analysts, who expected the PMI to rise slightly but remain below 50 units.

Both the NBS and experts agree that the two-month contraction was due to a power crunch that had forced the government to employ a rationing policy of electricity supply.

The government took several measures to restore the electricity supply since mid-September.

“The shortages of power supply eased in November and the prices of some raw materials dropped significantly, which brought manufacturing PMI back to expansion territory,” said Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician with the NBS.

The recovery came mainly from medium-sized companies, a segment in which the PMI stood at 51.2 points after rising 2.6 points compared to the previous month.

For large companies, it was 50.2 units, while the smallest continued in the contraction zone at 48.5.

Meanwhile, new orders, employment, supplies of raw materials, and delivery time for suppliers remained in the contraction zone.

The NBS also released the data for the non-manufacturing PMI, which suffered a slight reduction of 0.1 points compared to the October data but remains in the growth zone, with 52.3 units.

However, the outbreaks that have affected China since mid-October – with more than 1,400 local infections, a tiny figure compared to other countries but well above what the Chinese government is willing to accept – again hampered the evolution of the services sector, whose sub-index fell 0.5 points to 51.1.

Experts said it was due to the travel restrictions imposed by the authorities after the outbreaks and the consumer caution. EFE

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