According to newly-published data, China's Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) in August was up 0.7 percent from July to 54 percent.
In the last six months, China's PMI has remained above 50 percent. Meanwhile, from 20 manufacturing industries in China, the PMIs of 18 local industries in August were above 50 percent. Thus, in light of the significant increase in the PMI index, it may be concluded that China's economy, especially China's manufacturing industry, is gradually firming up. After the PMI index again increased to over 50 percent in March, it continued to go upward in April, reaching 53.5 percent. However, the index gradually lost momentum in the following three months, leveling off at around 53 percent. In August, it regained its momentum, climbing to 54 percent.
Another factor indicating the firming up of China's economy is the steady upward trend of local demand. In August, China's new order index increased to 56.3 percent, up 0.8 percentage points compared with the previous month, registering a record monthly high since May 2008.
A third factor is the acceleration of production activities. The production index in August increased by 0.6 percentage points to 57.9 percent, again the highest monthly level since May 2008.
However, the PMI not only reflects the general trend of current economic development in China, but also reflects problems such as the rising pressure from raw materials. According to the changes in the purchasing price index of raw materials, the index has been increasing for nine consecutive nine months, reaching 62.6 percent in August - the highest monthly level of the past twelve months. As another problem, though exports are increasing, the future trend remains uncertain. In August, the new export order index was 52.1 percent, unchanged compared with the previous month. Though the index has remained at over 50 percent for consecutive four months, a softening has been observed in the current rising trend, indicating uncertainty in the future trend of export activities.