China's official factory index falls to 49.3 in October, back below the 50 mark

China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.3 in October from 50.1 in September, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Saturday 31 October. A reading above 50 indicates expansion and one below 50 indicates contraction.

The details. The production sub-index fell 1.9 points to 49.8, and the new orders sub-index fell 1.1 points to 49.4, according to the NBS figures reported by Xinhua.

Large manufacturers stayed above the 50 line at 50.2, down 0.4 points from September. The index for medium-sized firms was 48.4 and for small firms 47.5.

The PMI for high-tech manufacturing was 51.3 and for equipment manufacturing 50.6. Production and new orders sub-indexes for railway, shipbuilding and aerospace equipment, and for computer, communications and electronic equipment, were at 53 or above, the NBS said.

On prices, the index for raw material purchase prices fell 4 points to 56.8, and the factory-gate price index fell 2.3 points to 51.7, which Xinhua said partly reflected recent falls in the prices of some non-ferrous metals and other commodities.

What the statistics bureau said. NBS chief statistician Huo Lihui said the fall was partly because some demand had been brought forward ahead of the National Day holiday at the start of October, and because of what she called a “complex international environment”. She said the figures showed that emerging industries had kept up their growth momentum.