Manufacturing activity in China fell in April, prompting draconian lockdowns to stem the wave of Covid-19, and slipped to its lowest level since February 2020, when the country was hit by the new coronavirus epidemic, which later became became a pandemic.
The official manufacturing PMI index actually stopped at 47.4 versus 49.5 in March, below market expectations of 48.0. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, this is the sharpest slowdown since February 2020, when containment lockdowns against the virus caused production to be blocked and the supply chain disrupted.
Manufacturing activity is suffering from the worst Covid wave in the last two years and the “zero tolerance” policy pursued by the Chinese authorities to keep the virus under control, which, however, has not yielded positive results with the Omicron variant and growth seriously impaired economically vulnerable.
The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) contracted for the second straight month, falling below 50 on “a contraction in output and demand that have widened,” said National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Zhao Qinghe. The manufacturing sub-index fell to 44.4 in April (from 49.5 in March), new orders to 42.6% (from 48.8) and export orders to 41.6 (from 47.2).
Non-manufacturing PMI was also poor, falling to 41.9 from 48.4 and for the second consecutive month falling as the anti-Covid squeeze blocked travel and travel and also put pressure on the capital Beijing , which was under threat of lockdown.
The data, which was closely monitored by the communist leadership, came as Beijing implemented a zero-Covid strategy, which sees outbreaks eliminated through targeted blockades and mass testing as soon as they appear.