China’s factory activity continued to pick-up in December from last month, indicating an improved expectation in the manufacturing sector driven by policy and financial support.
China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 50.3 in December from 50.1 in November, continuing a pickup starting from November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.
The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction. Analysts had expected it to come in at 50.
The non-manufacturing PMI recorded 52.7 percent, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. The comprehensive PMI output index was 52.2 percent, the same as November, NBS data showed.
The three major indexes all remain in expansion territory, showing that China’s economy has maintained a recovery trend, said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.
Government measures introduced to stabilize prices and help businesses started to kick in this month when some commodity prices fell back, relieving cost pressure for manufacturers, Zhao said.
The Central Economic Work Conference’s emphasis on maintaining economic stability in 2022 and the moderate relaxation of the reasonable financing needs of the real estate industry have boosted market expectation, Wang Jun, chief economist with Zhongyuan Bank, told the Global Times on Friday.
Each data including new orders, raw material inventory and employee index have all picked up from November. This reflects that market confidence and expectation are buoyed by recent policy and funding support, and the pressures from earlier raw material prices rises has eased, Wang noted.
A worker assembles engines on a producing line of a Weichai company in Weifang, east China’s Shandong Province.File photo: Xinhua
