BEIJING (AP) — Chinese manufacturing grew weakly in April,
suggesting a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy is
stabilizing, an industry group said Thursday.
The state-sanctioned
China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said its monthly
purchasing managers index stood at 50.4 points on a 100-point scale on
which numbers above 50 show activity expanding. That was up marginally
from March’s 50.3 points.
"The April PMI continued to rise
slightly, indicating future economic growth will tend to be stable,"
said Zhang Liqun, an economist for the Chinese state statistics bureau,
in a statement issued by the federation.
A separate survey earlier by HSBC Corp. showed April manufacturing activity shrank for a fourth straight
month.
China’s
economic growth slowed to 7.4 percent over a year earlier in the first
quarter. Trade and manufacturing have been weak, fueling concern about a
possible rise in politically volatile job losses.
Chinese leaders
are trying to steer the economy to more sustainable growth based on
domestic consumption instead of trade and investment. But they have
launched several mini-stimulus efforts when it appeared to be cooling
too sharply.
The PMI came in just under forecasts of 50.5.
"It
shows that China’s economy is continuing to grow, however analysts have
been over-optimistic in predicting its growth," said Chay Flack of CMC
Markets in a report.
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China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (in Chinese): www.chinawuliu.com.cn
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