China’s manufacturing may fizzle further in March as growth dims
Print Edition
CHINA’S manufacturing activity may contract further in March after a preliminary survey reading fell to an eight-month low, pointing to another sign of softening growth in China since the start of this year.
The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, the earliest available indicator of China’s industrial sector’s vitality, dropped to 48.1 in March from February’s final reading of 48.5, said HSBC Holdings Plc and research firm Markit yesterday. The PMI is weighted toward private and export-oriented companies.
A reading below 50 means contraction. The latest figure, the lowest since August, posted the third straight month of contraction and the fifth month of decline.
Zhu Haibin, chief economist for China at JPMorgan, said the flash reading again came in weaker than expected, adding downward bias to China’s near-term growth outlook.
“Economic activities are on the soft side,” Zhu said. “The March reading shows that the magnitude of an economic slowdown is larger than expected, and the weakness is not merely driven by Lunar New Year distortions.”
The production reading shed from February’s 48.8 to 47.3 in March, the lowest reading in 18 months, while new orders fell by 1.7 points to 46.9, the lowest in eight months.
The only silver lining was that new export orders rose to 51.4, the highest reading since December 2012 and compared with 48.5 in February.
Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC and co-head of its Asian Economic Research, expects measures to be unveiled to stabilize growth.
“Likely options include lowering entry barriers for private investment, targeted spending on subways and public housing, and guiding lending rates lower,” Qu said.
Pessimism deepened after China last week said industrial production growth eased to 8.6 percent in January and February — a five-year low — and down from 9.7 percent in December. Fixed-asset investment rose 17.9 percent in the two months, the slowest since 2002, while retail sales growth softened to 11.8 percent, the weakest since 2005.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
