China's Factory Activity Gauge Slid in May, Indicating Slower Growth
May 30 2020 - 10:24PM
Dow Jones News
BEIJING -- An official gauge of China's factory activity dropped
in May for a second straight month as the coronavirus pandemic
curbed demand.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers index edged down
to 50.6 in May from 50.8 in April, the National Bureau of
Statistics said Sunday. Still, the index remained above the 50 mark
that separates month-on-month expansion of activity from
contraction.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the
May reading to rise to 51.5. Purchasing by manufacturers is a
leading indicator of business activity because factories buy
supplies in anticipation of demand.
The production subindex fell to 53.2 from 53.7 in April. The
overall new orders subindex rose to 50.9 from 50.2.
Despite some improvement in new orders, overseas demand
continued to contract as the Covid-19 pandemic and the global
economic situation remained "severe and complicated," Zhao Qinghe,
an analyst with the statistics bureau, said in a statement
accompanying the data release.
The new-export-orders subindex, a gauge of external demand,
climbed to 35.3 in May from 33.5 in April. The subindex measuring
imports increased to 45.3 from April's 43.9.
The index is compiled based on monthly surveys of 3,000
manufacturers across 31 sectors.
--Liyan Qi
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 30, 2020 22:09 ET (02:09 GMT)
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