China’s factory activity expanded at a faster pace in November, with the official Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) coming in at 50.3, picking up by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday.
Among the five sub-indices, those for production, new orders and supplier delivery time were in the expansionary territory, while those for raw materials inventory index and employment index were in contraction, showed the data.
The sub-index for new orders was 50.8% in November, picking up by 0.8 percentage points from the previous month and improving for the third consecutive month.
On the supply side, supported by improved market demand and various supporting policies, manufacturers’ willingness to produce further increased, with the sub-index for production reaching 52.4%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous month, also expanding and improving for the third consecutive month.
In particular, existing and incremental policies have significantly boosted new momentum and consumer goods manufacturing. The PMI for the equipment manufacturing industry’s was 51.3%, unchanged from the previous month, with the production sub-index at 54%, up 0.8 percentage points, and the new orders sub-index remaining stable above 52%.
The high-tech manufacturing industry’s PMI reached 51.2%, picking up by 1.1 percentage points, with the production sub-index rising by 2.6 percentage points to 53% and the new orders sub-index increasing by 1.2 percentage points to 51.4%.
The consumer goods manufacturing industry’s PMI reached 50.8%, up 1.3 percentage points, returning to expansion after a brief contraction in October, with the sub-indices for production and new orders both improving by over 2 percentage points to exceed 52%.
Market prices saw significant fluctuations. In November, the overall prices of key production materials declined, with the raw materials purchase price sub-index dropping to 49.8%, down 3.6 percentage points from the previous month, while the factory-gate price sub-index falling to 47.7%, down 2.2 percentage points.
While the price decline reduces raw material costs for enterprises, it also highlights the need to strengthen economic recovery momentum, as supply-demand imbalances remain a concern and the downward linkage between upstream and downstream prices could hinder corporate profitability recovery, analysts said.
Market expectations continued to strengthen, with the sub-index for business expectations rising to 54.7%, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous month and marking two consecutive months of improvement, indicating that most manufacturers are increasingly confident about the future market outlook.
In particular, industries such as food, beverages, refined tea, paper and printing, cultural and educational goods, and automobiles had expectation indices above 58.0%, showing strong optimism for future growth.
The PMI for large manufacturing companies was 50.9%, falling by 0.6 percentage points from the previous month but still above the 50 threshold; PMI for medium-sized companies was 50.0%, a pick-up of 0.6 percentage points from the previous month, while small companies’ PMI at 49.1%, up 1.6 percentage points but remained in contraction, showed the data.
