Current:Home > NewsChina manufacturing contracts for a 4th straight month in January -Prime Capital Blueprint
China manufacturing contracts for a 4th straight month in January
View
Date:2025-04-12 21:30:13
SINGAPORE (AP) — A survey of factory managers in China released Wednesday shows manufacturing contracted in January for a fourth straight month, reflecting weak demand and a faltering recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
The official purchasing managers index, or PMI, rose slightly to 49.2 in January from 49.0 the month before. The PMI is on a scale up to 100 where 50 marks the cutoff between expansion and contraction.
The manufacturing PMI has fallen in nine of the past ten months, rising only in September.
“Overall, the PMI data show that China’s economy remains relatively soft, as confidence remains weak,” Lynn Song of ING Economics said in a report. “Until forward-looking indicators such as new orders return to expansion, economic momentum is likely to remain tepid.”
Despite unexpectedly prolonged weakness after the pandemic, the economy grew at a 5.2% annual pace last year, though that also was influenced by slow growth in 2022 during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent months, Chinese policymakers have introduced measures to shore up the economy, including spending more on construction of infrastructure, cutting interest rates and easing curbs on home-buying.
Last week, the central bank cut its reserve ratio requirement for banks, allowing banks to increase the amount of capital they can lend.
Beijing is also looking to expand some loans to real estate developers amid an ongoing property crisis, as developers struggle with a cash crunch after a crackdown on excessive borrowing.
Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a note that “growth momentum in China is in the midst of a renewed recovery” but added that it was unlikely to be sustained if policy support is cut back.
Global demand for manufactured goods has suffered as central banks around the world have raised interest rates to battle decades-high rates of inflation. Price pressures have eased in recent months, but demand has yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. That has ramifications across the region since supply chains linked to China are scattered across many Asian countries.
Apart from industrial activity, China’s non-manufacturing PMI rose to 50.7, the statistics bureau reported. The service sector PMI sub-index was 50.1, up from December’s 49.3.
veryGood! (353)
Related
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- About 1,100 workers at Toledo, Ohio, Jeep plant face layoffs as company tries to reduce inventory
- NFL Week 10 picks straight up and against spread: Steelers or Commanders in first-place battle?
- About 1,100 workers at Toledo, Ohio, Jeep plant face layoffs as company tries to reduce inventory
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Man accused of illegally killing 15-point buck then entering it into Louisiana deer hunting contest
- Arizona high court won’t review Kari Lake’s appeal over 2022 governor’s race defeat
- Mother fatally shot when moving daughter out of Iowa home; daughter's ex-boyfriend arrested
- Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
- Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake: 'Not Like Us' gets record, song of the year Grammy nominations
Ranking
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- San Francisco’s first Black female mayor concedes to Levi Strauss heir
- The Colorado funeral home owners accused of letting 190 bodies decompose are set to plead guilty
- Grammy 2025 snubs: Who didn't get nominated that should have?
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- Jeopardy! Clue Shades Travis Kelce's Relationship With Taylor Swift
- NWSL playoff preview: Strengths, weaknesses, and X-factors for all eight teams
- Union puts potential Philadelphia mass transit strike on hold as talks continue
Recommendation
Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?
Brother of Buffalo’s acting mayor dies in fall from tree stand while hunting
See Reba McEntire and Boyfriend Rex Linn Get Caught in the Rain in Happy's Place Preview
Election overload? Here are some tips to quiet the noise on your social feeds
Sam Taylor
How Trump's victory could affect the US economy
Winter storm smacks New Mexico, could dump several feet of snow
California air regulators to vote on contentious climate program to cut emissions