Chinese Regime Suffers Another Economic Setback: Manufacturing Industry Contracts for Third Consecutive Month

The Chinese regime suffers another economic setback: the manufacturing industry contracts for the third consecutive month. (Europa Press)

For the third consecutive month, China’s manufacturing industry recorded a contraction, exceeding even the most pessimistic forecasts of analysts, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (ONE) of the Asian giant.

You might be interested in: New threat from China: Xi Jinping warns that reunification with Taiwan is “inevitable”

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which reflects industry activity, stood at 49 points in December, up from 49.4 the previous month.

This indicator, which distinguishes between growth and contraction exceeding or falling below 50 points respectively, reflects a continued decline in manufacturing activity. PMI sub-indexes, which include things like new orders, employment and raw material inventories, also showed a decline, remaining below the 50-point mark and down from November.

You might be interested: Brazil gave China electricity infrastructure, market share and even its agricultural production

Zhao Qinghe, ONE statistician, identified weak domestic demand and the decline in orders from abroad as the main causes of this negative trend.

ONE also published its PMI for the non-manufacturing sector, which covers the services and construction sectors and which stood at 50.4 points in the last month of the year, 0.2 higher than in November and 0.1 above analysts’ forecasts.

The National Statistics Office has identified the weakness of domestic demand and the decline in orders from abroad as the main causes of this negative trend. (EFE)

Activity in the construction sector increased by 55 points to 56.9, while that in the services sector remained at 49.3 points from the previous month, a new decline that Zhao attributed to “weak consumption” in the tourism sector due, in part, “to the cold waves” that occurred this month in various areas of the Asian country.

You may be interested: after the disappearance of Li Shangfu, Xi Jinping appointed the head of the Navy as China’s new Defense Minister

The composite PMI, which combines the evolution of manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries, fell from 50.4 in November to 50.3 in the twelfth month of the year, marking, once again, the lowest point in its historical series if data from the pandemic years are considered and are excluded.

Xi Jinping’s regime began lifting anti-Covid restrictions in December 2022, after nearly three years, sparking a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

But this recovery has been slowed by poor consumer and business confidence, the housing crisis, record levels of youth unemployment and the global economic slowdown, which is weighing on demand for Chinese goods.

Nearly 90% of the foreign investments that flooded China’s stock market in 2023 were hastily withdrawn, highlighting a growing distrust of Xi Jinping’s regime’s promise to revive a faltering economy.

Nearly 90% of the foreign investments that flooded China’s stock market in 2023 were hastily withdrawn, highlighting a growing distrust of Xi Jinping’s regime’s promise to revive a faltering economy. (AP)

Since peaking at RMB235 billion ($33 billion) in August, net foreign investment in China-listed stocks has plummeted 87%, plunging to just RMB30.7 billion.

The exodus, revealed by the Financial Times through an analysis of data from Hong Kong’s Stock Connect trading system, reflects growing pessimism among international fund managers about the prospects of the world’s second-largest economy.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

2023-12-31 05:37:00
#Chinese #Regime #Suffers #Economic #Setback #Manufacturing #Industry #Contracts #Consecutive #Month