PMI 2017

I. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index

In December 2017, China's manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 51.6 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from last month, but still reached the annual average. The manufacturing industry maintained steady growth development momentum.

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

The production index was 54.0 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points month-on-month, and continued to be higher than the threshold, indicating that the manufacturing production increased steadily, while the amount of increase narrowed slightly.

The new orders index was 53.4 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points month-on-month, still higher than the threshold, showing that the manufacturing market demand was unleashed continuously, while the growth rate decreased slightly.

The main raw materials inventory index was 48.0 percent, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points over last month, lower than the threshold, indicating that the main raw material inventory of manufacturing industry continued to decrease.

The employed person index was 48.5 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points over last month, but was still below the threshold, indicating that the labor employment of manufacturing enterprises fell.

The supplier delivery time index was 49.3 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points over last month, and was below the threshold, indicating that the delivery time of manufacturing raw material suppliers slowed down.