The May Finance and New China General Service Business Activity Index (PMI) released on June 5 recorded 52.7, down 1.8 percentage points from April, the lowest in three months, but the growth rate is still strong.
Prior to the announcement, the PMI of Caixin China's manufacturing industry was flat at 50.2 in May, and the two major industries fell flat, resulting in Caixin China's comprehensive PMI recorded 51.5 in May, down from 1.2 percentage points in April.
The trend of Caixin China's service industry and comprehensive PMI is not entirely consistent with that of the Bureau of Statistics. The business activity index of service industry published by the National Bureau of Statistics in May was 53.5, up 0.2 percentage points; the comprehensive PMI was 53.3, down 0.1 percentage points from April.
Total new orders for services continued to rise in May, but growth slowed to a three-month low. Respondents reported that new product launches and promotional activities led to a rebound in the total number of new orders. The total volume of new orders in manufacturing also accelerated, but the overall level was still moderate. The growth rate of new orders in May was the lowest in three months.
New export orders for manufacturing and services both rose slightly in May. Among them, the new export orders of service industry dropped significantly compared with April, with only a slight increase. Some enterprises reflect that the international market demand is weakening. New export orders for manufacturing industry have returned to the expansion range. The employment of the two industries is divided. The scale of service industry employment continued to rise slightly, and continued to expand for eight consecutive months. Enterprises reflected that this was related to the growth of order demand. Manufacturing employment declined slightly. Combining the two, the scale of employment declined for the first time in three months in May, but the contraction was minimal.
In May, the input cost of service industry continued to rise, and the increase slowed down compared with last month. The respondents reflected that the rising costs were mainly related to the rising prices of raw materials and salaries. The cost of manufacturing investment rose only moderately. Combining the two industries, the input cost continued to rise slightly, and the increase rate continued to be lower than the long-term average.
In order to maintain competitiveness and attract new orders, the pricing ability of Chinese enterprises was limited in May, the service industry fee price only increased slightly, and the profit margin was further squeezed. At the same time, manufacturing ex-factory prices remained unchanged from last month, ending the previous three-month upward trend.
Hot Model No.: