December Manufacturing PMI Slightly Declines but Still Expands

Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics Service Industry Survey Center and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing released the operating conditions of the China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for December 2024. According to the data, the manufacturing PMI for December was 50.1%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, but the manufacturing sector still maintained an expansion trend.

From the perspective of enterprise size, the PMI for large enterprises was 50.5%, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from the previous month, remaining above the critical point; the PMI for medium-sized enterprises was 50.7%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points, also above the critical point; while the PMI for small enterprises was 48.5%, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points, falling below the critical point.

Among the five component indices of the manufacturing PMI, the production index, new orders index, and supplier delivery time index were all above the critical point, while the raw material inventory index and employment index were below the critical point. Specifically, the production index was 52.1%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, but still above the critical point, indicating that production activities in manufacturing enterprises continued to expand rapidly. The new orders index was 51%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points, indicating a continued improvement in market demand for manufacturing.

The raw material inventory index was 48.3%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, but still below the critical point, indicating a slight narrowing in the decline of major raw materials inventory in manufacturing. The employment index was 48.1%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points, indicating a slight downturn in the employment climate in manufacturing enterprises. The supplier delivery time index was 50.9%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points, indicating that the delivery time for raw material suppliers in manufacturing continued to accelerate.