PMI 2016

I. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index

In December 2016, China's manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 51.4 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points over last month, continued to stay in the expansion range, and hit this year’s second highest.

Among the five sub-indices composing PMI, the production index and the new orders index were higher than the threshold. The supplier delivery time index was at the threshold. The employed person index and the main raw materials inventory index and were lower than the threshold.

The production index was 53.3 percent, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points month-on-month, still higher than the threshold, indicating that manufacturing production continued an expanding trend, while the growth slowed down.

The new orders index was 53.2 percent, remained at the same level month-on-month, and continued to be higher than the threshold, showing that the manufacturing market demand maintained fast growth.

The employed person index was 48.9 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points month-on-month, lower than the threshold, indicating that the labor employment of manufacturing enterprises continued to decrease, and the pace of decline extended.

The main raw materials inventory index was 48.0 percent, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points over last month, and was still in the contraction range, indicating that the manufacturing main raw material inventory experienced a sustained reduction.

The supplier delivery time index was 50.0 percent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points over last month, and rose to the threshold, indicating that the delivery time of manufacturing raw material suppliers was unchanged compared with last month.