China manufacturing index slumps in August: govt
AFP From Business Insider
Beijing (AFP) – Chinese manufacturing activity fell into contraction in August, an official index showed on Monday, the figure slumping to a three-year low in the latest sign of slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 49.7 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
The reading, which tracks activity in China’s vast factory and workshop sector, was worse than the 50.0 reading in July, and the first time it showed contraction since February.
The index is seen as a key barometer of the Asian giant’s economic health, a key driver of global growth.
A figure above 50 signals expansion in the sector, while anything below indicates shrinkage.
It was the lowest official PMI since August 2012, but was still better than an independent survey sponsored by Chinese media group Caixin, announced late last month.
Its preliminary PMI reading for August plunged to a 77-month low of 47.1.
Caixin was due to release the final figure, compiled by financial information services provider Markit, later Monday.
The outlook for China’s economy has turned decidedly pessimistic even after gross domestic product (GDP) registered an expansion of 7.0 percent in the April-June quarter, surprising economists on the upside.
Indicators in the current third quarter have worsened as have concerns over the health of China’s economy, leading to turmoil on overseas stock markets as a bubble also deflates on domestic bourses.
China’s economy expanded 7.4 percent last year, its weakest since 1990, and GDP has slowed further this year.
Analysts have said that giant explosions last month in the port of Tianjin as well as a military parade set for Thursday in Beijing to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II — for which factories have been closed and a public holiday declared — likely helped weaken manufacturing activity in August.
IMAGE: Workers install car parts an a factory in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province, in July 2015
© AFP/File –
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Official index: China manufacturing falls to 3-year low
From Business Insider
HONG KONG (AP) — An official index of Chinese manufacturing contracted last month, falling to a three-year low and raising fears of slower-than expected growth in the world’s No. 2 economy.
The manufacturing index based on a survey of factory purchasing managers fell to 49.7 in August from 50.0 in July.
The index released Tuesday and compiled by the Chinese Federation for Logistics and Purchasing is based on a 100 point scale on which numbers above 50 indicate an expansion.
It’s the lowest level for the index since August 2012.
Other recent economic indicators such as export data have also shown larger-than-expected weakness.
In their latest attempt to shore up flagging economic growth, China’s communist leaders cut interest rates last week, the fifth time they have done so in nine months.
