China’s Manufacturing PMI Returns to Expansionary Territory in June

The National Bureau of Statistics of China announced on June 30 that China’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for June stood at 50.3%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, returning to expansionary territory.

Huo Lihui, chief statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics’ Service Industry Survey Center, stated that in June, both production and demand in China’s manufacturing sector expanded simultaneously. The manufacturing production index stood at 51.4%, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, indicating an acceleration in corporate production activities; the new orders index rose into expansionary territory at 51.2%, up 1.3 percentage points from the previous month, signaling an improvement in market demand.

By enterprise type, the PMI for large manufacturing enterprises stood at 50.7%, continuing to expand; the PMI for medium-sized enterprises was 50.5%, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous month, marking a significant rebound in business sentiment; and the PMI for small enterprises was 48.2%.

Looking at key sectors, the PMI for high-tech manufacturing stood at 53.5%, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous month and significantly higher than the overall manufacturing PMI, indicating continued positive development in high-end manufacturing; the PMIs for equipment manufacturing and the consumer goods sector were 52.5% and 50.2%, respectively, up 0.4 and 0.5 percentage points from the previous month, reflecting a strengthening of business sentiment in these sectors; The PMI for energy-intensive industries stood at 47.1%, unchanged from the previous month.

Huo Lihui noted that in June, the index for expectations regarding manufacturing production and business operations was 54.3%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous month, indicating that enterprises’ confidence in the market had strengthened. By sector, the production and business activity expectations indices for specialized equipment, railway, shipbuilding, and aerospace equipment, and electrical machinery and equipment all remained above 57.0%—a relatively high level of business sentiment—with relevant enterprises expressing greater optimism about industry development.

Zhang Liqun, a special analyst at the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, believes that the slight increase in the PMI index in June indicates strengthened momentum for economic growth—particularly that driven by innovation—and that positive factors supporting the recovery and improvement of the Chinese economy are on the rise.