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TRADE WARS
China factory activity hits lowest level in three years
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Feb 28, 2019

China's manufacturing activity shrank for a third straight month in February, sinking to its worst performance in three years as the economy slows and the US trade war bites, official data showed Thursday.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), a gauge of factory conditions, came in at 49.2 for the month, down from 49.5 in January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The figure remained below the 50.0 mark separating expansion from contraction. It fell short of the 49.5 reading tipped in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

Although manufacturing activity slowed, "market demand has picked up to some extent", NBS analyst Zhao Qinghe said in a statement.

However, "under the influence of weakening global growth momentum and intensified trade protectionism, foreign trade is under relatively big pressure", Zhao added.

China's economy has been losing steam over the past several months, expanding by 6.6 percent in 2018, its slowest pace in nearly three decades as the government battles a massive debt pile.

"The official PMIs suggest that growth remains under pressure and we expect conditions to weaken further in the coming months," Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics wrote in a research note.

"While there are tentative signs that credit growth is now starting to bottom out, we don't think that will put a floor beneath growth until the middle of this year at the earliest," he added.

The trade conflict with the United States has also inflicted some damage, with the two countries hammering each other with punitive tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade.

But the two sides said negotiations last week resulted in "substantial progress", prompting US President Donald Trump to delay a hike in tariffs and voice hope that he could soon sign a deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.


Related Links
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Standard Chartered's 2018 profits rise despite setting aside fine cash
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Standard Chartered's pre-tax profit surged to $3.9 billion in 2018, the bank said Tuesday, after previously warning it had set aside nearly $1 billion for regulatory fines in the US and Britain. The UK-based bank has been stalked for years by probes on both sides of the Atlantic over alleged violations of United States sanctions against Iran and investigations related to foreign exchange trading and financial crime controls. Last week the bank said it had put aside $900 million to deal with thos ... read more

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