Guangzhou (JLC), December 31, 2024 – China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) dropped slightly in December but was still in expansionary territory, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
The manufacturing PMI came in at 50.1% in December, down from 50.3% in November, the NBS data showed.
The index has been in expansionary territory for three months in a row, the data showed.
A breakdown of December’s manufacturing PMI showed that the sub-index for production stood at 52.1%, a drop of 0.3 percentage points from November, signaling that the production activity expanded at a slower pace.
The sub-index for new orders rose to 51.0%, indicating that the market demand improved, the NBS data showed.
Meanwhile, the sub-index for raw material inventories came in at 48.3%, a gain of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The sub-index for employment dropped 0.1 percentage points to 48.1% in December, while the sub-index for distributor delivery time was up 0.7 percentage points month on month to 50.9%.
Non-manufacturing index up significantly
China’s non-manufacturing commercial index, which includes sub-indexes for activity in the service and construction sectors, came in at 52.2% in December, up significantly from 50.0% in November, the NBS data indicated.
The construction commercial activity index stood at 53.2%, up 3.5 percentage points month on month.
The rise came as some companies accelerated construction activity ahead of the Spring Festival to catch up with their work schedules, said Zhao Qinghe, an NBS statistician.
The commercial activity index for services came in at 52.0%, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous month, the NBS data showed.
The commercial activity indexes for railway transportation, water transportation, air transportation, postal services, broadcasting and television, satellite transmission services, monetary and financial services, and insurance were above 55% in December, suggesting high prosperity for these sectors.
