China's manufacturing sector down in 6 consecutive months

Manufacturing firms in April reported the sharpest staff reduction in 37 months.

Here's from HSBC:

After adjusting for seasonal factors, the HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index posted 49.3 in April, up from 48.3 in March. That indicated a sixth successive month-on-month worsening of manufacturing sector operating conditions in China. The index was nonetheless consistent with a marginal rate of deterioration. Manufacturing output decreased for a second month running in April, although the rate of contraction was marginal. Moreover, the latest decrease was slower than in March. Where a decline in factory output was recorded, panellists commented on fewer intakes of new business.

There were also reports of adverse market conditions. Goods producers continued to report underlying demand weakness, with incoming new business falling at a marginal rate in April. In addition, the rate of decline in new business was the slowest in the current six-month period of reduction. In contrast, new export orders rose in April, albeit at a fractional rate.

Growth of work awaiting completion was recorded for the second month running in April, in spite of a further reduction in new orders. However, the rate of backlog accumulation was slight. Meanwhile, companies continued to reduce their staff numbers in April. Although modest, the rate of job shedding was the sharpest in 37 months. Manufacturers commented on employee retirements, resignations and the need to streamline workforce numbers in response to lower output requirements.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia