Source: Wall Street News
Driven by improvements in supply and demand, Caixin's service sector PMI in March was 52.7, up 0.2 percentage points from February. It has been in the expansion range for 15 consecutive months, and economic activity in the service sector continues to expand.
As new business volume hit the highest growth rate since this year, economic activity in China's service sector continued to expand in March, and prosperity recovered.
On April 3, data released by S&P Global showed that China's Caixin service sector PMI for March was 52.7, up 0.2 percentage points from February, indicating that the service sector is recovering at an accelerated pace. Since the beginning of 2023, Caixin China's service sector PMI has been in the expansion range for 15 consecutive months, and economic activity in the service sector has continued to expand.
According to the Caixin manufacturing PMI data released earlier, the Caixin manufacturing PMI for March was 51.1, a slight increase of 0.2 percentage points from 50.9 last month. The manufacturing boom improved for 5 consecutive months, and recorded the most significant growth rate in 13 months.
The recovery in the prosperity of the two major industries led Caixin China's composite PMI to rise 0.2 percentage points to 52.7 in March, indicating that the total activity of Chinese enterprises continued to grow for the fifth month in a row, the highest growth rate since May 2023.
Earlier, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the manufacturing PMI for March was 50.8%, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous month, and the manufacturing boom rebounded; in March, the non-manufacturing business activity index was 53.0%, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous month, above the critical point, indicating a continuous recovery in non-manufacturing sentiment; and the composite PMI output index was 52.7%, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous month.
Accelerated growth in new business volume, supporting the acceleration of service sector activity expansion
Both the March Service Industry Business Activity Index and the New Orders Index were above the boom and dry line for 15 consecutive months. Among them, the growth in new business volume accelerated in March, supporting the acceleration of the expansion of service sector activity, and the growth rate of new business hit the highest record since December last year. Due to improved demand fundamentals, merchants are focusing on developing their business and boosting the growth of new orders.
In March, as external demand improved, export business volume grew at an accelerated pace, the highest growth rate in nine months. The external economic environment has also improved. Service exports have continued to grow, and the new export orders index has been in the expansion range for the seventh month in a row, a new high since July 2023.
The employment index in the service sector declined slightly, and corporate employment remained cautious
Employment in the service sector is still shrinking. The service sector employment index was below the boom and bust line for the second month in a row in March, but the contraction narrowed.
Recently, business activity has increased, and the confidence of service enterprises is improving. They are optimistic about the business prospects for the next 12 months. Optimism has risen for the first time in 3 months. Prices in the service sector continue to rise, but the trend is gradually slowing down. On the cost side, the rise in raw materials, manpower, and freight has boosted the service industry input price index to maintain an expansion range since July 2020, but the price growth rate has weakened marginally.
editor/tolk