BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly shrank in April, official data showed on Sunday, exacerbating the challenge for an economy in the midst of a patchy post-COVID recovery with slack global demand and a still-wobbly domestic property sector.
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 49.2, down from 51.9 in March, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, below the 50-point mark that separates expansion and contraction in activity on a monthly basis. The outcome was below a forecast of 51.4.
The world’s second-largest economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, driven by pent-up consumption demand after the end of COVID-19 curbs, but factory output lagged amid weak global growth.
(Reporting by Ellen Zhang, Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and William Mallard)
