Latest News:  

English>>Business

Manufacturing expands in Feb, but at slower pace

By Chen Jia in Beijing and Yu Ran (China Daily)

09:42, March 02, 2013

A welder at a construction site in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, on Thursday. A gauge of China's manufacturing sector released on Friday suggests the industry continued to expand in February. (China Daily/Zheng Haiyan)

The Purchasing Managers' Index, a leading economic indicator showing operational activities in the manufacturing sector, dropped to a five-month low of 50.1 in February, compared with 50.4 in January, the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing reported on Friday.

The 50-level is the boundary separating expansion from contraction.

HSBC Holdings Plc also released the manufacturing PMI for February based on its own survey. A reading of 50.4, a fall from 52.3 in January, showed the same moderating trend in economic growth.

"It doesn't signal that China's recovery is losing steam, given the greater volatility of readings around the Chinese New Year period," said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC.

A statement from the federation said China's industrial production is stable, with enterprises optimistic on future development. "On the whole, the economic growth momentum remains sound," it said.

The official statistics showed that new orders and export orders retreated last month, due to weakened demand.

The bureau said the sub-index for new orders dropped to 50.1 from 51.6 in January, while the reading for export orders fell to 47.3, a drop of 1.2 points from a month earlier.

Zhang Liqun, an analyst with the Development Research Center of the State Council, said:"Export orders have fallen for three consecutive months ... showing the uncertainty in overseas markets.

Jiang Yongzhong, head of the Chamber of Commerce for Wenzhou Businessmen in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, said: "The seemingly recovering global economy has brought no obvious changes to struggling businesses in Jinhua after Spring Festival compared to the past year, causing the majority of small businesses to suffer great losses."

【1】 【2】

Email|Print|Comments(Editor:DuMingming、Zhang Qian)

Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name

  

Selections for you


  1. Special operation members in shooting

  2. Chinese peacekeeping engineer detachment

  3. Israeli troops arrest 3 Palestinian protesters

  4. Sand, haze pollute Beijing’s air

  5. Photo story: Arriving in Beijing

  6. Lantern Festival in women's prison

  7. Terracotta Warriors cry out for clean air

  8. Nobel laureate writes his own political story

  9. Time for Blackberry to shake up China strategy

  10. China-made rail coaches arrive in Argentina

Most Popular

Opinions

  1. Are US, N. Korea playing 'basketball diplomacy'?
  2. Who will attend China's upcoming 'two sessions'?
  3. CPC adopts list of state leadership candidates
  4. Quality vocational education
  5. Air pollution needs urgent action
  6. A growing social malaise
  7. When will Poland join the eurozone?
  8. Paulson: Urbanization key to China's development
  9. Prevent Xiqu from being lost in translation
  10. Housing still on unsustainable path

What’s happening in China

Village teacher with his back basket

  1. Sign of times from people to congress
  2. New rules to boost coal ash recycling
  3. Quality inspector tests rice for metal
  4. Airport, highways closed in NE China blizzard
  5. China to construct public opinion polling platform