NBS: China Aug manufacturing PMI down 5th month to 50.1

By August, the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for China’s manufacturing industry had slipped for the fifth consecutive month, down another 0.3 basis point on month to 50.1, though the index had been in the expansion zone for 18 months, according to the latest release by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on August 31.

Last month, the overall performance among China’s manufacturers “was mainly disrupted by new COVID-19 cases across the country and severe flooding (in Central China’s Henan),” Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician of NBS, was quoted commenting in the release. In August, thus, 10 of the 21 surveyed manufacturing sectors posted their