BEIJING, Oct 31, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – China’s manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level in eight months in October, official figures showed Thursday, impacted by a slowing domestic economy and a lingering trade war with the United States.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.3 in October from 49.8 the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said — the sixth month running that the figure was below the 50 level dividing expansion from contraction.
Local industry had been impacted by slow foreign trade and “falling market demand”, said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.
In a sign of the impact on the Chinese economy, the sub-index for new export orders was down 1.2 percentage points to 47 through the month.
“The official PMIs fell by more than expected this month, reinforcing our view that the improvement at the end of Q3 didn’t mark the start of a sustained recovery,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics.
The decline in new export orders pointed to a further slowdown in export growth, he added.
Recent months have seen signs of thawing tensions in the trade impasse between the world’s two biggest economies after talks earlier this month.
The White House said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump is still hoping to sign a trade deal with China in the coming weeks — despite the cancellation of the APEC summit in Chile where he was due to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in mid-November.
Beijing has implemented a number of measures to try and stimulate the economy, including slashing the reserve requirement ratios last month for banks to free up about $126 billion to boost lending.
China’s economy expanded at its slowest rate in nearly three decades during the third quarter.