The energy crisis and shortages continue to weigh on activity in China.
Manufacturing output contracted more in October than observers expected.
"Due to factors such as the still tight electricity supply and the high costs of some raw materials, the manufacturing PMI fell in October,"
China's National Bureau of Statistics (SNB) said on Sunday.
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The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), which measures the activity of factories nationwide, fell to 49.2 this month from 49.6 in September, according to the SNB.
A number greater than 50 for this index indicates an expansion of activity;
below, it reflects a contraction.
This is therefore the second consecutive month of decline in factory activity since February 2020. At that time, the Covid-19 epidemic was raging and a large number of sites were shut down.
New orders
The Chinese economy has largely recovered from the initial shock of the pandemic, but the SNB has ensured that the threat of an epidemic continues to weigh on consumer morale.
Both the production index and the new orders index were in contraction in October, showing weakening supply and demand, SNB statistician Zhao Qinghe said.
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China's large manufacturing sector has been steadily slowing this year, with output growing in September at its slowest pace in eighteen months due to environmental restrictions, energy rationing and high fuel prices. raw materials.
The price index has indeed continued to increase, reflecting in particular the rise in the prices of energy resources.
The global economic recovery has led to a sharp rise in the prices of oil, gas and coal in recent weeks, and the producer price index has reached its highest level since 2016. To these negative signals for the economy In addition, there is a resumption of the Covid-19 pandemic in northern China.
