China’s Manufacturing PMI from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for December has come in at its third straight month of contraction at 49.0, much worse than was expected
- from 49.5 expected and 49.4 in November
Services at 50.4, a slight miss
- 50.5 expected and 50.2 in November
Composite is 50.3, from 50.4 in November.
The private Caixin factory survey will be issued on Tuesday:
China has two primary Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surveys – the official PMI released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Caixin China PMI published by the media company Caixin and research firm Markit / S&P Global.
- The official PMI survey covers large and state-owned companies, while the Caixin PMI survey covers small and medium-sized enterprises. As a result, the Caixin PMI is considered to be a more reliable indicator of the performance of China’s private sector.
- Another difference between the two surveys is their methodology. The Caixin PMI survey uses a broader sample of companies than the official survey.
- Despite these differences, the two surveys often provide similar readings on China’s manufacturing sector.
During last week were comments from the head of the NDRC:
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ps. Here’s an interesting piece from Reuters for some holiday reading: