Guangzhou (JLC), January 2, 2024 – China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) continued to ease in December, staying below the critical 50% mark, a line that separates growth from contraction, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on December 31.
The manufacturing PMI came in at 49.0% in December, down 0.4 percentage points from November, the NBS data showed. The manufacturing PMI has been below the 50% mark for a third straight month.
A breakdown of December’s figures showed that the sub-index for production stood at 50.2%, a month-on-month drop of 0.5 percentage points, signaling that the production sector eased but was still at the expansion zone.
The sub-index for new orders fell to 48.7%, down 0.7 percentage points on month, showing that the market demand shrank somewhat.
Meanwhile, the sub-index for raw material inventories came in at 47.7%, down 0.3 percentage points month on month. The sub-index for employment stood at 47.9%, down 0.2 percentage points from the previous month. The sub-index for distributor delivery time came in at 50.3%, unchanged from November.
Non-manufacturing PMI picks up
China’s non-manufacturing PMI came in at 50.4% in December, up from 50.2% in November, suggesting that the non-manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace than in the previous month, the NBS data indicated.
The commercial activity index for construction came in at 56.9%, up 1.9 percentage points month on month. The commercial activity index for services remained at 49.3%, flat on a month-on-month basis, the NBS data showed.
The commercial activity indexes for postal services, satellite TV broadcasting, telecommunication, monetary and financial services were all above 55% in December, suggesting high prosperity for these sectors
However, the index for the property sector was still below the 50% mark in December, the NBS said.
