Photo:VCG

The recovery of China's factory and non-manufacturing activities continued to accelerate at pace in November, as economic indicators hit record highs for the year.

The world's second largest economy is expected to continue growing at a steady clip for the remainder of the year, boosted by rebounds of both supply and demand, and continue until the first quarter next year, analysts told the Global Times on Monday.

According to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, China's manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) went up 0.7 percentage points in November to 52.1, beating the forecast of 51.5. The manufacturing PMI has stayed above the 50 mark for nine consecutive months.

The 50-point mark separates expansion from contraction on a monthly basis. Among the 21 manufacturing industries surveyed, 19 industries stay in the expansion range, showing that more are picking up steam.

Sub-indices like the production index and new order index were 54.7 and 53.9 respectively in November, both rising to the high point of the year, and the difference between the two has narrowed since June, dropping from 2.5 percentage points to 0.8.

The narrowing gap between production and new orders indicates that the manufacturing industry's internal strength has improved, with domestic supply and demand circulation continuing to improve, said Zhao Qinghe, a senior analyst from the NBS. 

From the perspective of industry, the two sub-indices related to high-tech manufacturing - such as medicine, electrical machinery and equipment, and computer communication electronic equipment - are all above 56.

November also witnessed the steady recovery of China's foreign trade, with the new export order index and import order index both up from October, hitting 51.5 and 50.9 respectively, staying in the expansion range for a third straight month.

However, the pace of recovery of the domestic manufacturing industry is still uneven. The PMI of the textile and apparel industry has not risen above the 50-point mark so far this year. In addition, 18.8 percent of export companies have been impacted by Chinese currency exchange rate fluctuations, which is 1.7 percentage points higher than last month.

"The recovery of the overall economy is gathering pace at both the supply and demand ends thanks to continued improvement, which can be seen through the sub-indices of new order and production," Liu Xuezhi, an economist at Bank of Communications, told the Global Times on Monday.

Liu estimated that the upward trend of economic recovery will continue through the remainder of the year and into the first quarter of next year.

A solid rebound can also be seen in the non-manufacturing sector.

China's non-manufacturing PMI climbed to 56.4 in November. The index has remained above 55 for four consecutive months, with the service business activity index at 55.7, up 0.2 percentage points from October, data from the NBS showed.

The business activity index of railway transportation, air transportation, telecommunications, broadcasting and television satellite transmission services, finance and other industries stayed within the expansion range above 60, with the total business volume increasing significantly in November.

Global Times