China’s manufacturing PMI drops in July, 2021

The latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics of China says the Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) for China fell to 50.4 in July 2021 from 50.9 a month earlier, missing market expectations of 50.8.

This was the weakest pace of increase in factory activity since a contraction in February 2020, amid the Delta variant of COVID-19 outbreak in the eastern city of Nanjing, higher material cost, and extreme weather.

Output (51.0 vs 51.9), new orders (50.9 vs 51.5), and buying level (50.8 vs 51.7) all rose at softer paces, while export sales declined the most in three months (47.7 vs 48.1).

Meanwhile, employment shrank for the fourth month in a row despite the rate of falls softening from the prior month (49.6 vs 49.2.

On the price front, both input cost (62.9 vs 61.2) and selling prices (53.8 vs 51.4) went up faster. Looking ahead, sentiment weakened to a one-year low (57.8 vs 57.9).

Source: Trading Economics