China's manufacturing activity retreated in February 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, which measures vitality in the manufacturing sector, dropped 1 percentage point in February to 50.3 from January's 51.3, posting a largest month-on-month decline in 69 months. The non-manufacturing PMI also dipped from the previous three-month rise, down by 0.9 from January 2018 to 54.4 this month but was 0.2 higher than the same period last year. The general PMI, which covers both manufacturing and services industries and figures for which began to be released this year, retreated to 52.9 from January's 54.6. A reading above 50 signals expansion, and below 50 indicates contraction. The sub-index for production fell sharply by 2.8 points to 52.2, and for new orders it was down to 51.0 from 52.6 in January. Sub-indices for raw material inventory, employment and suppliers' delivery time were still lower than 50.
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