Chinese manufacturing activity expands in March after five months

BEIJING, China: An official survey of factory managers released on March 31 that after contracting for five consecutive months, manufacturing in China expanded in March, reflecting a rebound in industrial activity after the Lunar New Year holiday.

In the world’s second-largest economy, the official Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose from 49.1 in February to 50.8 in March. On a scale of up to 100, a score of 50 marks the cutoff between expansion and contraction.

The Chinese market became more active as companies resumed and intensified production after the Lunar New Year holiday, said Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics.

Zhao added that the survey also showed that some issues, such as increasing competition in industries and a lack of market demand, continued to affect companies.

During the annual session of the National People’s Congress in March, China said that 10.4 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) would be spent on upgrading industries and modernizing manufacturing. Consumers should scrap old appliances and trade in their cars for electric vehicles (EV) to help spur more domestic demand.

However, Zhao said policies promoting the trade-ins of consumer goods and large-scale equipment upgrades must still be implemented to support the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry.

According to the survey, the country’s non-manufacturing PMI rose to 53 from 51.4 in February, the highest since June 2023.

The country’s ruling Communist Party aims to grow the economy by some five percent this year.