New orders were sluggish in the month, even as the US cut some tariffs on Chinese imports
The National Bureau of Statistics says the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 49.2. That’s up 0.2 points from October, but is still below the 50-point threshold separating growth from contraction.
The bureau survey covered 3,200 manufacturers. The gauges for large, mid-sized and small companies all remained below the 50 mark.
The index for non-manufacturers, which includes service providers, also pointed to sluggish economic conditions. It fell 0.6 points to 49.5. That is the first time the index has slid below 50 since December 2022, when China’s economy was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
