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China’s manufacturing, services activity contract together for first time since Wuhan coronavirus outbreak
- China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.5 in March, down from 50.2 in February
- Official non-manufacturing PMI, which measures business sentiment in the services and construction sectors, fell to 48.4 from 51.6 in February
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Activity in both China’s manufacturing and services sectors simultaneously contracted for the first time in two years in March, data released on Thursday showed amid an ongoing coronavirus resurgence in the country.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.5, from 50.2 in February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), with a reading below 50 indicating contraction.
The March figure was below the median forecast of a Bloomberg survey of analysts, which had predicted a fall to 49.8, and it was the lowest reading since dropping to 49.2 in October.
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The official non-manufacturing PMI, which measures business sentiment in the services and construction sectors, fell to 48.4 in March from 51.6 in February. This was below the Bloomberg survey of analysts, which had predicted a fall to 50.3, and was the lowest reading since dropping to 47.5 in August.
The official PMIs indicate that recent efforts to rein in the largest virus outbreak since early 2020 weighed heavily on activity this month, especially in services
The official March composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services activity, fell from 51.2 in February to 48.8 – the second-lowest reading since the index dropped to 28.9 in February 2020 at the height of the initial coronavirus outbreak.
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