China manufacturing growth picks up in March

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China’s manufacturing activities expanded at a faster pace in March, with the official PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) standing at 51.5, significantly higher than February’s 50.3, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Saturday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while that below reflects contraction.

This marks the 20th straight month of expansion for China’s vast manufacturing sector, and reinforces views that the world’s second-largest economy will see only a modest slowdown in growth this year.

The pick-up in manufacturing expansion came as factories resumed production after the Spring Festival holiday, with sub-indices for production and new orders both rising to 53.1 and 53.3, respectively, said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

Small enterprises witnessed a particularly strong increase in manufacturing activities, as the PMI for small manufacturers jumped to 50.1 in March from 44.8 last month, NBS data shows.

Zhao also attributed the faster expansion to stronger foreign trade, better industrial structure, and increased business purchasing activities.

Sectors like equipment, high-tech and consumer goods manufacturing recorded higher PMI than the overall manufacturing PMI level in March, indicating progress in bringing in new growth engines.

Chinese manufacturers were also increasingly concerned about employment issues, with 40.2 percent of the surveyed enterprises reporting high labor costs and 19.2 percent of them saying there was a labor supply shortage last month, Zhao said.

(with inputs from Xinhua)