Chinese state-run media People’s Daily recently reported that China’s official September 2024 Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was 49.8 percent, remaining in the contraction range. The PMI numbers were sourced from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.
Among the five sub-indices that make up the manufacturing PMI, the production sub-index was higher than the critical point (51.2 percent), and the new order sub-index (49.9 percent), raw material inventory sub-index (47.7 percent), employment sub-index (48.2 percent) and supplier delivery time sub-index (49.5 percent) were all lower than the critical point of 50 percent. The official government manufacturing PMI has now been in contraction territory for five consecutive months.
Meanwhile, the Caixin media group has just released its own Chinese Manufacturing PMI numbers for September. The Caixin PMI is a well-respected economic indicator monitored globally by financial institutions. The September Caixin PMI was 49.3 percent. According to Caixin, the September production sub-index is still in the expansion range. However, the new orders sub-index fell below the critical line, recording its lowest value since October 2022. Employment, raw material and product inventory, procurement and factory prices fell within the contraction zone. Caixin indicated that the problem of insufficient domestic effective demand is prominent, and uncertainty about foreign demand increased at the same time.
Sources:
(1) People’s Daily, September 30, 2024
http://finance.people.com.cn/n1/2024/0930/c1004-40331760.html
(2) Caixin, September 30, 2024
https://pmi.caixin.com/2024-09-30/102241625.html