Staff members work at a factory of agricultural machinery in Da'an Town of Jining City, east China's Shandong Province, July 13, 2024. In recent years, Da'an Town has made efforts to develop the agricultural machinery industry. At present, the town is home to an industrial cluster comprising over 100 agricultural machinery-related enterprises. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 49.4 in July, slightly down 0.1 from the reading last month but beating analysts' broad estimation at 49.3, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday.

A reading above 50 indicates manufacturing sector expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.

Zhao Qinghe, an NBS statistician attributed the slight drop to the traditional production off-season in July, lackluster market demand, and the impact of summer extreme weather events on production.

As for sub-indexes, the production index is above the threshold at 50.1 in July, which indicates that manufacturers' production has been expansive. The new order index came in at 49.3, as demand in the manufacturing sector marginally declined, Zhao said. 

Zhao noted that both the production and new order indexes in some sectors including culture and entertainment, railway and aviation equipment remained above 52, reflecting relatively fast growth in market supply and demand.

In July, the production and operation expectation index for enterprises stood at 53.1, down 1.3 from June, but remained in the expansion territory. This shows that most manufacturing enterprises are comparatively optimistic about their market performances, Zhao said.

Meanwhile, the PMI for non-manufacturing sector came in at 50.2, down from 50.5 in June, NBS said.

The composite PMI stood at 50.2 in July, down 0.3 from the previous month, still higher than the 50-watershed, indicating the overall production and operation of Chinese enterprises keeps expanding, though slowing slightly, Zhao said.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership held an important meeting on Tuesday to analyze the current economic situation and set out priorities for the second half of this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Unswervingly efforts must be made to accomplish the goals set for this year's economic and social development, the meeting said.

Global Times