The Contraction In Chinese Manufacturing Accelerates In October
Submitted by China Economy Watch Blog
China’s manufacturing contracted by the most on record last month as the global financial crisis cut demand for exports, a second survey showed. The CLSA China Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to a seasonally adjusted 45.2 in October from 47.7 in September. The output index fell to 43.4 in October from 46.7 in September, while the index of new orders declined to 43.8 from 45.8. The index of export orders dropped to 44.3 from 45.9.
The government-backed China Federation of Logistics purchasing managers’ index - published on 1 November - also showed a strong contraction, falling to 44.6 in October, the lowest level since the data began in 2005, from 51.2 in September.
Basically, not only does Chinese manufacturing seem to have been in contraction mode for the last several months now, the rate of contraction seems to be accelerating.
To be watched, and carefully.

November 6th, 2008 at 11:42 am
[...] Anecdotal evidence about the bad economy: Canton Fair attendance was way down. You can debate the reasons but it doesn’t change the fact that Southern China is losing jobs, and there is a significant slowdown in Chinese manufacturing too. [...]