Manufacturing grows in February
MANUFACTURING activity in China’s private and export-oriented companies grew for the first time in four months in February, indicating a weak yet stabilizing economy after easing policies were unveiled, a survey showed yesterday.
The HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index, an indicator of operating conditions in the industrial sector for private and export-oriented firms, landed at a seven-month high of 50.7 in February, according to HSBC and research firm Markit.
A reading of 50 separates growth from contraction, and February’s posting, up from January’s 49.7 and the earlier flash reading of 50.1, signaled the first growth in the sector since October.
Comparatively, the official PMI, compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, rose to 49.9 in February from 49.8 a month earlier, but still pointing at contracted activity in state-owned industrial companies.
Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, said the country’s manufacturing sector saw an improvement in overall operating conditions.
“Under the HSBC PMI, companies registered the strongest expansion in output since last summer while total new business also rose at a faster rate,” Qu said.
“However, the renewed fall in new export orders suggested that foreign demand has weakened while manufacturers continued to cut their staff numbers.”
Marked cuts in both input and output prices also indicated that deflationary pressures persist, Qu said.
To bolster the economy and counter the rising deflation risks, the People’s Bank of China announced on Saturday a cut in the one-year deposit and lending rates by 0.25 percentage points. It was the second interest rate cut in three months and followed a reduction in reserve requirement ratio, the amount of funds commercial banks must set aside as reserves, in early February.
China’s gross domestic product expanded 7.4 percent from a year earlier in 2014, the slowest pace in 24 years.
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