Manufacturing activities in many Asian countries are still facing difficulties

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the purchasing managers index (PMI) in the field of manufacturing in China rose from 47.4 in April to 49.6 in May, higher than experts’ forecast. According to Chinese officials, this shows that policies to support production and supply chains in the past time have initially been effective.

However, this result is still below the threshold of 50 points, indicating a contraction in manufacturing activity. According to experts, although lockdown measures have been eased in the main production hubs in Shanghai and the Northeast region, businesses still face many difficulties such as prolonged delivery times. , the stock of raw materials decreased.

Analysts predict that the Chinese economy will take a long time to recover and may even decline in the second quarter of this year.

Workers at a car factory in Shandong province, China. (Photo: Xinhua)

“The official PMI index shows that manufacturing activities in China have gradually recovered, when the blockade measures are eased. However, the recovery momentum in the near future will still be muted due to weak demand. in international markets and tensions in the labor market,” said Julian Evans Pritchard, chief economist at Capital Economics.

Difficulties in China also significantly affect its major trading partners, South Korea and Japan.

Newly released figures show that South Korea’s industrial output in April fell by 3.3% compared to March. This was the first decrease in the past 7 months and the sharpest decline since May. 5/2020.

In Japan, industrial output in April also decreased by 1.3%, mainly due to a decline in the group of electronics and manufactured machinery.

Production activities at factories in these two Northeast Asian countries are forecast to continue to face many challenges in the short term, as the supply chain in China has not yet fully recovered.

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