In February, the China Caixin Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) indicated a final reading of 49.9, up 1.6 percentage points compared to the final reading for January, hitting the highest level over the past three months, as announced by Beijing-based Caixin media group.
Zhong Zhengsheng, chief economist with China Economic and Business Monitor (CEBM), part of Caixin Insight Group, pointed out that manufacturing in China has seen improvement due to booming infrastructure construction, though he added that the pressure on manufacturers’ capital turnover became obvious again, which may indicate that the financing environment is not easing as expected and that the effect of credit expansion is not yet significant.
Meanwhile, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China’s manufacturing sector was at 49.2 percent in February, down 0.3 percentage point compared to the previous month.