China factory growth too eases in July
31 July 2017 5:25 PM GMT
Chinese factory activity eased in July as export demand weakened while momentum in service industries also waned, according to official surveys out on Monday, indicating that the world's No 2 economy is struggling for traction.
The monthly purchasing managers' index slipped to 51.4 last month from the prior month's 51.7, based on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 indicate expansion.
It was still the 12th straight month that factories reported expansion, according to the data compiled by the Federation of Logistics & Purchasing posted on China's official statistics website. The survey found that new export orders dropped by a wider margin than overall new orders. China's outsize manufacturing sector employs tens of millions of workers and the index is widely watched as an early indicator of the health of the economy.
Next Story
