China’s July manufacturing weakens amid export weakness – KIRO 7 News Seattle

BEIJING – (AP) – China’s production growth slowed to its lowest level in 15 months in July as export demand slackened and factories finished interrupting supplies of raw materials and components, two polls found.

A monthly purchasing managers’ index published by Caixin, a business magazine, fell to 50.3 from 51.3 in June on a 100-point scale, where numbers above 50 show an increase in activity. A separate PMI issued by an industry group and the Chinese Statistics Bureau fell from 50.9 to 50.4.

China recovered from the coronavirus pandemic relatively quickly, but manufacturers struggled while waiting for supply chains to return to pre-pandemic activities and for foreign markets to be hampered by renewed disease outbreaks.

Caixin’s measurement of new export orders fell to 50.3 from 51.3 in June.

China’s economy expanded 7.9% year-over-year in the three months to June, although that was even stronger compared to early 2020 when factories and stores closed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Production rose 1.3% compared to the previous quarter, compared to the 0.6% growth in the previous quarter, but one of the weakest values ​​in the last decade.

Exports rose 32.2% in June over a year ago, but the government warned that this could ease in the second half of the year.

“The latest polls reinforce our view that the economy will tread on the ground in the second half of the year,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report. “There should be nothing to be alarmed about, given how much activity has been lately.”

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