Baku, April 2, AZERTAC
There was more good news for the Chinese economy as the manufacturing purchasing managers' index reached 50.8 percent in March, up 1.7 percentage points from February, according to chinadaily.com.cn.
This is the first time the figure has returned to the expansion range after running below 50 percent for five consecutive months.
The previous contraction of the manufacturing PMI was mainly due to domestic demand being in the recovery stage, insufficient demand, de-stocking in some industries, and the Spring Festival holiday. The uptick gives policymakers and industries more space in which to maneuver.
It is an encouraging sign that all three major manufacturing industries — high-tech, consumer goods and equipment manufacturing — expanded simultaneously, with their PMI in March standing at 53.9 percent, 51.8 percent and 51.6 percent respectively, up 3.1, 1.8, and 2.1 percentage points from February.
The production index and new order index of the manufacturing PMI were 52.2 percent and 53.0 percent respectively, up 2.4 and 4.0 percentage points from February, indicating a recovery on the demand side to some extent.
External demand has improved too. The new export and import order indexes have both risen to the expansion range, reaching 51.3 percent and 50.4 percent respectively, up 5.0 and 4.0 percentage points from February. In the first two months of this year, China's exports were $528.01 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent, with the 6.0 percent growth of exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as the main driver.