Guangzhou (JLC), October 7, 2023 – China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) continued to improve in September, climbing above the critical 50% mark, a line that separates growth from contraction, after staying in the contraction zone in the previous five months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on September 30.
The manufacturing PMI came in at 50.2% in September, up 0.5 percentage points from August, the NBS data showed.
The index has been on an upward trend in recent months, a sign that the manufacturing sector gradually recovered despite challenges in foreign trade. The manufacturing PMI bounced back to the expansion zone in September as China’s stimulus measures began to take effect, the NBS said.
A breakdown of September’s figures showed that the sub-index for production stood at 52.7%, a month-on-month increase of 0.8 percentage points, signaling that the production activities continued to recover.
The sub-index for new orders rose to 50.5%, up 0.3 percentage points on month, showing that the market demand improved somewhat.
Meanwhile, the sub-index for raw material inventories came in at 48.5%, up 0.1 percentage points on month. The sub-index for employment stood at 48.1%, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. However, the sub-index for distributor delivery time came in at 50.8%, down 0.8 percentage points from August.
Non-manufacturing PMI also improves
China’s non-manufacturing PMI came in at 51.7% in September, up from 51.0% in August, suggesting that the non-manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace than in the previous month, the NBS data indicated.
The commercial activity index for construction came in at 56.2%, up 2.4 percentage points on month. The commercial activity index for services rose 0.4 percentage points on month to 50.9%, the NBS data showed.
The commercial activity indexes for water transportation, postal services, telecommunications, radio and television, satellite services, internet software and information technology services were all above 55% in September, suggesting high prosperity for these sectors.
However, the indexes for railway and aviation transportation, catering and accommodations were below the 50% mark in September, after experiencing a peak season in July and August.
