cross border logistics China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) contracted in March, as clusters of COVID-19 outbreaks hit many places across the country and global geopolitical instability also affected demand, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.
According to the NBS, the official manufacturing PMI in March retreated to 49.5, down 0.7 points from the previous month. The non-manufacturing PMI fell to 48.4 from 51.6 in February.
Zhao Qinghe, a senior NBS statistician, said that due to the resurgence of the epidemic, some enterprises reduced or halted production, which affected the normal operations of related upstream and downstream firms.
Meanwhile, with the recent escalation of international geopolitical conflicts, some export orders were reduced or canceled, reflecting weakened market demand, Zhao said.
Affected by recent sharp fluctuations in international commodity prices, both the purchasing price index and producer price index of major raw materials like oil and coal surpassed the 70 mark, bringing greater cost pressure to downstream industries.
China's official composite PMI in March stood at 48.8, narrowing 2.4 points compared with February.
"Different from the previous sporadic flare-ups, recent resurgences of the coronavirus have affected a large number of provinces and cities, affecting the country's economy and leading to disruption of industrial production in many Chinese cities, " Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Cong predicted that economic activities will continue to slow in April due to these outbreaks. "Once the epidemic gets under effective control, the suppressed production and demand will gradually recover and the market is expected to revive," Cong noted.
The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, released its latest quarterly survey on Wednesday, saying that the business climate index stood at 53.3, narrowing 3.5 points compared with the previous quarter, with nearly 80 percent of the respondents saying their operations were "mediocre" or "relatively bad".
The survey showed that the index for export orders dropped to 40.9 from 48.7 in October-December, below the critical 50-mark. The profitability index declined to 49.3, down 8.1 points from the fourth quarter in 2021.
Cong said that with the release of more supporting policies, the bulk of companies still have confidence in the development of the market, he noted.
The State Council, the cabinet, held a meeting on Wednesday, requesting more policies to stabilize the economy and avoiding measures that are not conducive to stabilizing market expectations.
In order to mitigate the impact of the epidemic, central and local authorities have unveiled a series of support policies. On Thursday, Shanghai announced rules to reduce three months of rent for small and micro-sized enterprises as well as individual entrepreneurs.
Global Times
