BEIJING, 31st May, 2025 (WAM) -- The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 49.5 in May, up 0.5 percentage points from April, indicating an improvement in the industry's prosperity level and a stabilization in economic operations, showed official data released on Saturday.
PMI, a measure of economic activity based on survey data from firms regarding factors like production, new orders and inventories, is commonly viewed as a benchmark for the health of the manufacturing sector.
The production index went up 0.9 percentage points to 50.7 percent in May, rising above the threshold, representing an acceleration in production activities of manufacturing enterprises, showed data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the National Bureau of Statistics' Service Survey Center.
Meanwhile, the sub-indice of new orders was 49.8 percent in May, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous month.
"In terms of industries, the production index and new order index of sectors such as agricultural and sideline food processing, dedicated device, and devices for railway, shipbuilding and aerospace are all above 54 percent, which indicate that both supply and demand in these industries are growing rapidly," said Huo Lihui, head of business climate survey division of the Service Survey Center under the National Bureau of Statistics.
According to a report from China Central Television (CCTV), the import and export indices showed a recovery in May. The new export orders index reached 47.5%, an increase of 2.8 percentage points compared to April, while the import index rose by 3.7 percentage points to 47.1%.
In terms of the market expectation, the expected index of production and business activities was 52.5 percent in May, 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous month.
"The expected index has also rebounded, indicating that the overall market is increasingly optimistic about the future economic performance. The Chinese economy has maintained very stable operation and demonstrated further enhanced resilience," said Cai Jin, chairman of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.