China’s manufacturing PMI fell below 50 in April

On April 30, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for April at 49.0. It fell 1.5 percentage points from the previous month and fell below the critical point of 50, which is good or bad, for the first time in two months. Due to the US’s imposition of tariffs on China, the production index and order index are sluggish.

The PMI surveyed 3,200 manufacturing companies. According to the project survey, new orders, production, number of employees, etc. An index exceeding 50 indicates that the prosperity has expanded compared with the previous month, while an index below 50 indicates that the prosperity has shrunk.

The new order index, which is the pillar, fell 2.6 percentage points from the previous month to 49.2, falling below 50 for the first time in two months. The production index also fell 2.8 percentage points to 49.8, falling below 50 for the first time in two months.

In terms of enterprise size, the index of large enterprises fell 2.0 percentage points from the previous month to 49.2, which is below 50. Medium-sized enterprises and small and micro enterprises dominated by private enterprises are also below 50. The impact of tariffs appears to have spread to a wide range of businesses.

The overseas new orders index fell 4.3 percentage points to 44.7, below 50. It hit a new low since economic activity stagnated during the epidemic in December 2022.

At the same time, the non-manufacturing business activity index released in April was 50.4, down 0.4 percentage points from March. Among them, the index of the construction industry fell 1.5 percentage points from the previous month to 51.9.