Scrutiny gets harder as China suspends PMI data

Beijing has suspended the release of industry-specific data from a monthly survey of manufacturing purchasing managers, with an official saying there was limited time to analyse the large number of responses.

"We now have 3,000 samples in the survey, and from a technical point of view, time is very limited - there are many industries, you know," Cai Jin, vice-president of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, which compiles the data with the National Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday in Beijing.

The disappearance of data on industries including steel adds to issues hampering analysis of the world's second-biggest economy, after fake invoices inflated trade numbers this year.

The Purchasing Managers Index also omitted readings on export orders, imports and inventories without any explanation from the government.

"The random absence of official data is disorienting."

The industry-specific PMI readings have only been available via paid subscription, while the broader data is issued via press releases.