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Investing.com-- China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in five months in August, a private-sector survey showed on Monday, offering a glimmer of improvement amid weaker official signals.
The RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI rose to 50.5 in August from 49.5 in July, exceeding a forecast of 49.7 and breaking into expansion territory above the 50-point growth threshold.
The jump was largely driven by a surge in new orders, the survey noted, even as export demand continued to decline for a fifth consecutive month. Meanwhile, firms reported their fastest accumulation of unfinished work in six months.
"New export orders are still in contraction, but the pace of decline has eased. That’s encouraging, yet we shouldn’t get carried away, because external demand looks partly pulled forward while domestic demand stays soft, so the upside to output may be limited unless domestic demand firms up," said Yao Yu, Founder at RatingDog.
Despite the uptick, manufacturers remained cautious on hiring, with employment contracting for the fifth month running. Rising input costs, fueled by sharper raw material price increases, and persistent supplier delays also tempered optimism.
“Notably, the manufacturing sector is helping the recovery, but this rebound is patchy," Yao Yu added.
The data comes after official PMI figures over the weekend showed that the manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth straight month in August.