BEIJING- China’s factory activity eked out growth in September, but a slowdown in services sector growth and a downbeat private manufacturing survey pointed to further cooling as the economy grapples with COVID-19 curbs and softening global demand.
China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 50.1 in September from 49.4 in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday, beating expectations.
The index’s return to growth, after two months of contraction, was helped by recent easing measures, but the private Caixin survey showed factory activity slumped more quickly in September and the official survey showed a sharp slowdown in services sector activity growth.
Signs that the world’s second-largest economy is struggling to regain traction after narrowly avoiding contraction in the second quarter, could add to concerns about a global recession, as major central banks embark on the most aggressive round of rate rises in decades.
“The surveys suggest that China’s economy continued to lose momentum in September, with the global downturn weighing on exports and virus disruptions dealing a fresh blow to services activity,” Zichun Huang, an economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.
Elsewhere in Asia, data showed South Korea’s factory production shrinking for a second month in August, but a separate release showed Japan’s factories ramping up output again last month.
China’s official manufacturing survey showed factory activity grew marginally in September, beating expectations for a reading of 49.6 in a Reuters poll of economists, and coming in above the 50-point mark that separates contraction from growth. China’s government has rolled out more than 50 policy measures since late May.
“With the basket of economic policies coming into effect and the impacts of heatwaves fading, the manufacturing sector has picked up, leading to the PMI return to expansionary territory,” said Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician at the NBS, in a statement.
