China's manufacturing PMI down in December

BEIJING - The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 47 in December 2022, down from 48 in November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday.

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

The sub-index for large enterprises stood at 48.3 in December, down 0.8 percentage points from the previous month.

The sub-index for production stood at 44.6 in December, down 3.2 percentage points compared to the previous month. Demand in the manufacturing market also declined, with the sub-index for new orders dropping 2.5 percentage points from a month earlier to 43.9.

The epidemic weighed on the December reading, the bureau's senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

Though the PMI of the manufacturing industry dropped in December, the PMI of agricultural and non-staple food processing, medicine and other industries closely related to people's livelihood, remained in the expansion range, providing strong support for economic and social recovery and development, he said.

The monthly PMI reading for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 41.6 in December, down from 46.7 in November.

The construction sector maintained expansion in December, with the sub-index for business activities reaching 54.4, 1 percentage point lower than the previous month.

The service sector was weaker as COVID-19 and other factors weighed on market activities. The sub-index for business activities declined 5.7 percentage points from the previous month to 39.4.

But sub-indexes measuring business activities in air transport, telecommunications, radio and television, satellite transmission services, and monetary and financial services, stood above 52 and remained in the expansion range.

The sub-indexes for business activities in retail, road transport, accommodation and catering stood below 35.

Demand in the non-manufacturing market also declined, with the sub-index for new orders dropping 3.2 percentage points from the previous month to 39.1.

In terms of the comprehensive PMI output index, the reading stood at 42.6 in December, 4.5 percentage points lower than the previous month -- indicating a slowdown in the overall production and operation of Chinese enterprises.

Despite the lackluster monthly data, most surveyed enterprises believed that the market will recover, as COVID-19 case numbers will gradually ease, Zhao said.