China's manufacturing PMI comes in at 49.0 in April, though optimism remains

China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) for April came in at 49.0, down 1.5 points from the previous month, as per National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data released on Wednesday. A reading above 50 indicates economic expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction.

The contraction in the manufacturing PMI, which comes on the back of two consecutive months of expansion, can be attributed to the current challenging global economic backdrop and the ongoing tariff war launched by US President Donald Trump's administration.

Among the disaggregated PMI components, the supplier distribution time index stood at 50.2, down 0.1 points from the previous month, indicating that the delivery time of manufacturing raw material suppliers continues to accelerate.

Non-manufacturing business activity continued to expand, coming in at 50.4 compared to 50.8 in March, owing to which China's comprehensive PMI stood at 50.2, above the critical threshold.

The Caixin General Manufacturing PMI, meanwhile, remains optimistic for the world's second largest economy, coming in at 50.4 in April 2025, down from March's four-month high of 51.2 but marking a seventh consecutive month of expansion.

Both supply and demand grew at a slower clip even as continued market improvements, said Dr Wang Zhe, senior economist at Caixin Insights Group. While the press release cited a slower increase in total new orders, resulting from weakened external demand and trade disruptions from higher US tariffs, Zhe remains optimistic, stating that the impact of tariffs on the supply side was relatively limited and that manufacturers continued to absorb existing orders.