China's manufacturing PMI ended the 3-month long downward trend

After three months of declines, China’s manufacturing PMI, published by the National Bureau of Statistics, finally rose again, to 51.9 in March from 50.6 in February. The increase was mainly driven by the surge in the production and new orders sub-indexes, as manufacturers accelerated their production in response to rising demand. The PMI for both small and medium enterprises finally surpassed the 50 threshold, entering expansion territory.

The increase was mainly driven by the surge in the production and new orders sub-indexes

Non-manufacturing PMI also climbed in March to 56.3 from only 51.4 in February. The PMI for the services industry surged by 4.4 percentage points to 55.2, indicating optimistic outlook for the sector as the economy keeps recovering.

Further data and analysis on China’s economy is available on the CEIC China Economy in a Snapshot – Q1 2021 report.