BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s industrial activity hit a seven-month low in November as tough coronavirus measures and slumping global demand hit.
The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 48.0 points in November from 49.2 points in October, the statistics office announced on Wednesday. The barometer is thus well below the 50 mark, from which picking up business is signaled. Analysts polled by Reuters had only expected the index to slip to 49.0 points in November.
Due to corona restrictions in many Chinese metropolises, things are not looking any better in the service sector either. The barometer for this area fell to 46.7 points in November from 48.7 points in October, which is also its lowest level in seven months.
(Report by Liangping Gao and Ryan Woo, written by Katharina Loesche. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for companies and markets ).)