[April 7 Xinhua News]China’s Economic News Media Goods New Media announced on the 6th that the China Service Industry Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 42.0, down 8.2 points from the previous month. It fell below 50, the turning point of the recession, and was the lowest level since February 2020.
The manufacturing PMI in March announced by Koshin on the 1st was 48.1, and the total PMI for the manufacturing and service industries decreased by 6.2 points to 43.9. It was also the lowest level since February 2008, indicating that the production management activities of companies have shrunk once more due to the epidemic of the new coronavirus infection.
Looking at the sub-indexes, it reflects a significant drop in supply and demand. The business activity index fell sharply, breaking the milestone for the first time in seven months, and the new orders index remained in the shrinking range. The companies surveyed cited the re-emergence of the new corona and the stricter measures once morest corona as the main factors. External demand slowed due to the spread of infection overseas, and the new export order index was the lowest since October 2008.
Employment remained sluggish due to the combination of the re-expansion of the new corona and the slump in supply and demand. The employment index fell below the milestone for the third straight month, but recovered slightly compared to January and February.
While costs have risen sharply, the spillover to prices has been limited, increasing cost pressure on companies. The input price index, which fell to the lowest level in six months in February, started to rise once more and exceeded the long-term average. Companies have said that costs and spending on raw materials, food, transportation, employment, corona measures, etc. have all increased slightly.
The shipping price index remained in the expansion zone but declined slightly, reaching its lowest level in seven months. The company that raised the price explained that the reason was that the increase in cost was passed on to the price, and other companies said that they would take advantage of the price cut to win new orders.
The optimism of the market has also weakened. Although the business expectation index maintained its expansion trend, it fell to the lowest level since August 2008 and also fell below the long-term average. (c) Xinhua News / AFPBB News
