Coronavirus impact on China’s manufacturing not ‘yet fully manifested’ even as factory output cools

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 50.0 in January, but the survey was conducted before the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak

Officials warned that survey was conducted before January 20, so ‘impact of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus has not yet (been) fully manifested’

Reading Time:3 minutes

China’s factory activity cooled slightly in January, with the official purchasing managers’ index dropping to 50.0, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:48am, 31 Jan 2020Updated: 9:19am, 3 Feb 2020

China’s factory activity cooled slightly in January, although officials and analysts warned the drop does not account for the coronavirus outbreak, which is set to test an economy already growing more slowly.

The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 50.0, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday, having remained steady at 50.2 for the last two months of 2019 following a reading of 49.3 in October.

But the NBS warned that because the survey was conducted before January 20, “the impact of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus has not yet (been) fully manifested”.

“Future trends will need further observation,” it added in a statement.

The impact of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus has not yet (been) fully manifested. Future trends will need further observation

National Bureau of Statistics

The non-manufacturing PMI – a gauge of sentiment in the services and construction sectors – strengthened to 54.1 from 53.5 in December.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x