Employees work on a production line manufacturing steel structures at a factory in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, May 17, 2020. The photo was taken on May 17, 2020.via China Daily, Reuters/File Photo Obtaining license rights
TOKYO, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Asian factory activity remained weak in November due to sluggish global demand, a survey showed on Friday, lowering a range of indicators regarding the strength of China’s economy. Signs cloud the outlook for the region’s fragile recovery.
China’s private Caixin/S&P Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) unexpectedly rose to 50.7 in November from 49.5 in October, exceeding 50, the dividing line between growth and contraction. , exceeded analyst expectations.
The statistics were released a day after an official survey showed a contraction in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing activity, underscoring the deepening problem in the world’s second-largest economy.
Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China, said: “The domestic market cannot make up for the losses in Europe and the US. Data shows that factories are producing less and employing fewer people. ”, he said, adding that China’s PMI numbers are different. sample.
According to the survey, export-dependent Japan, South Korea and Taiwan continued to bear the brunt of weak global demand, with manufacturing activity at a standstill in November.
“It’s difficult to expect a recovery in Asia in the near future,” said Toru Nishihama, chief emerging market economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. “Exports will likely bottom out, but the global economy is unlikely to accelerate significantly from here as it lacks a key driver of growth.”
Japan’s au Jibun Bank’s final manufacturing PMI was 48.3 in November, down from 48.7 in October and contracting at the fastest pace in nine months.
South Korea’s PMI in November was 50.0, slightly up from 49.8 in October. The recovery in factory shipment benchmarks came after 16 consecutive months of contraction through October, the longest slump since the survey began in April 2004.
According to the study, manufacturing activity also contracted in Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia, but expanded in Indonesia and the Philippines.
China’s economy has struggled to make a strong post-pandemic recovery this year, and an already gloomy global outlook has darkened further as the U.S. and European economies begin to feel the pinch from past aggressive interest rate hikes. .
“The weakness in China’s services sector is particularly worrying because it shows that demand is evaporating even as supply is recovering,” said Nishihama of the Dai-ichi Life Economic Research Institute. .
Report by reporter Laika Kihara.Editing: Jamie Freed
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