China’s manufacturing expands

The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for China’s manufacturing sector came in at 51,1 in April, slightly down from 51,9 of March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Friday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

The manufacturing sector maintained steady growth in April.

The manufacturing PMI continued to expand on the basis of the apparent rebound in the previous month, weakening somewhat but still higher than the level of the same period in 2019 and 2020, NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

It is worth noting that the manufacturing PMI for small businesses showed a positive improvement in this month’s data, said Wen Bin, a chief analyst at China Minsheng Bank.

The PMI for small businesses in the manufacturing sector stood at 50,8, up 0,4 percentage points from the previous month, while that for big and medium-sized companies came in at 51,7 and 50,3, down 1 percentage point and 1,3 percentage points, respectively.

The sub-index for production stood at 52,2, down 1,7 percentage points from a month earlier, while that for new orders shrank 1,6 points to 52, indicating a slowdown in the expansion of production and demand in the manufacturing sector.

The inventory index of raw materials was 48,3 percent, down 0,1 percentage points from the previous month, below the critical point of 50, indicating the inventory of major raw materials in the manufacturing sector decreased compared with the previous month.

Business confidence was generally stable. — Xinhua.