China: Manufacturing PMI contracted for fourth consecutive month

The Chinese economic mood is not yet optimal, in fact it is always negative, and this shows how an almost permanent feeling of crisis is also creeping into China, until yesterday the champion of growth.

The official NBS manufacturing PMI rose to 49.3 in July 2023 from 49 in June, beating market forecasts of 49.2 . However, the latest press pointed to the fourth consecutive month of decline in manufacturing activity amid a rapidly stalling post-pandemic recovery, with new orders (49.5 vs 48.6 in June) and sales exports (46.3 vs 46.4) down for the fourth month in a row while purchasing activity slowed its decline (49.5 vs 48.9).

At the same time, employment fell for the fifth consecutive month and was at a higher rate (48.1 vs 48.2). Production grew for the second consecutive month (50.2 vs 50.3).

Meanwhile, delivery times have been slightly adjusted (50.5 vs 50.4). On the price front, input costs rose for the first time since March and the fastest pace in five months (52.4 vs 45.0); while selling expenses fell for the fifth consecutive month, but the smallest drop in four months (48.6 vs 43.9). Finally, business sentiment improved to a four-month high (55.1 vs 53.4)

So we have the fourth successive month of decline, but something, very slowly, is changing and the corporate sentiment could turn positive again for the autumn. The most worrying element remains that linked to employment: in this sector it seems that companies are not yet seeing a positive development, so it is unlikely that there will be a drop in unemployment due to manufacturing. The problem of youth unemployment will continue for some time yet.

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The article China: Manufacturing PMI shrinks for fourth consecutive month comes from Scenari Economics .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/cina-il-pmi-manifatturiero-si-contrae-per-il-quarto-mese-successivo/ on Mon, 31 Jul 2023 07:30:53 +0000.