Chinese factory activities grew at a slower speed in January, while the staffing rate dropped with the fastest speed in almost five years because trade uncertainty increased, the private sector business survey showed Monday.
PMI Global Manufacturing Caixin/S & P has dropped to 50.1 in January from the previous 50.5 months, the estimated analyst lost in the Reuters 50.5 poll and subsided to the lowest four months. But it only exceeds 50 signs that separate growth from contractions.
However, the reading was better than the official survey last week, which showed an unexpected manufacturing activity in the early 2025, maintaining the call of life for more stimuli in the second largest economy in the world. A smaller Caixin survey is believed to be more focused on export -oriented companies.
According to the Caixin survey, manufacturing production was accelerated in January from December, while the total new orders had increased with the fastest speed since November. The factory owner reports an increase in demand and anecdotal evidence shows that some clients have increased orders for inventory purposes.
In dealing with the threat of US President Donald Trump, anecdotal evidence suggested that exporters rush to load cargo at the Chinese big port before the Lunar New Year holidays eight days and in front of new tariffs.
Trump on Saturday ordered 10% of goods tariffs from China and larger levies on Canadian and Mexican imports, risking new trade wars which according to economists can slow down global growth and revive inflation.
The Caixin survey shows that the new order in January from abroad declined for the second month in a row.
And the average selling price of the factory has declined with the fastest speed since July 2023, reflecting the pressure to support sales and market share in the midst of increasing global competition and uncertainty.
The manufacturer’s sentiment is still increasing in signs of increasing domestic demand and expectations of more government support for the economy.
Work usually makes it easy because the factory tends to be temporarily closed during a long new year’s holiday. But January’s work uttering level has speeding up the fastest since February 2020.
According to the producer, a decrease in labor levels reflects non-changing job graduates and redundancy due to cost issues.
Without without, reducing the level of staffing and increasing new orders cause the fourth monthly accumulation of the work of deposits in the manufacturing sector.
“Increasing uncertainty in international policy can worsen the Chinese export environment, creating significant challenges for the economy,” said Wang Zhe, economist at the Caixin Insight Group.
Economic policy is therefore “must be well prepared and adjusted immediately” to adapt to the developing conditions, he added.
Source: Reuters
