China's Non-manufacturing PMI was 55.1 Percent in March

National Bureau of Statistics of China 2017-03-31 16:45 Print| Large| Medium| Small

Department of Service Statistics of NBS

China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP)

In March 2017, China's non-manufacturing purchasing manager index was 55.1 percent, an increase of 0.9 percentage points over the previous month, reaching nearly three years high, and the non-manufacturing expansion steps had been accelerated further.

In view of different industries, non-manufacturing purchasing manager index of service industry was 54.2 percent, an increase of 1.0 percentage point over the previous month, and the service industry continued to have steady progress. Of which, the indices of retail trade, air transport, post, Internet, software and information technology services, monetary financial services, Capital market services, Insurance, were positioned in the high level of the range which above 55.0 percent, and the total enterprise business increased rapidly. The indices of transport via road, restaurants, real estate, resident services and repair, were below the threshold, and the total business decreased. Non-manufacturing purchasing manager index of construction industry achieved 60.5 percent, an increase of 0.4 percentage point over the previous month, and the expansion had been accelerated.

New orders index was 51.9 percent, up by 0.7 percentage points over the previous month, and continued to be positioned in the expansion range, indicating that the growth of the non-manufacturing market demand had gained speed. In view of different industries, the new orders index of service industry was 51.7 percent, increased 1.2 percentage points over the previous month, and was higher than the threshold. The new orders index of construction industry was 53.3 percent, decreased 1.5 percentage points over the previous month, but was still higher than the threshold.

Input price index was 52.3 percent, down by 1.4 percentage points over the previous month, and was still higher than the threshold, indicating that the amount of increase of input price during the process of production and operation of non-manufacturing enterprises continued to narrow. In view of different industries, the intermediate input price indices of service industry was 51.0 percent, decreased 1.2 percentage points over the previous month. The input price index of construction industry was 59.8 percent, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points over the previous month.

The sales price index was 49.7 percent, down by 1.7 percentage points over last month, dropped below the threshold, indicating that the overall level of non-manufacturing sales price decreased. In view of different industries, the sales price index of service industry was 48.9 percent, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points over the previous month. The sales price index of construction industry was 54.3 percent, an increase of 1.0 percentage point over the previous month.

Employment index was 49.1 percent, decreased 0.6 percentage points over the previous month, and continued to be lower than the threshold, indicating the labor employment of non-manufacturing enterprises continued to decrease. In view of different industries, the employment index of service industry was 48.8 percent, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the previous month. The employment index of construction industry was 50.8 percent, a decrease of 6.3 percentage points over the previous month.

Business activities expectation index was 61.3 percent, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points over last month, but was still positioned in the high level of the range.

Main Indices of China's Non-manufacturing PMI (Seasonally adjusted)
Unit: %
	Non-manufacturing PMI	New Orders Index	Input Price Index	Sales Price Index	Employment Index	Business Activities Expectation Index

2016-March	53.8	50.8	51.4	49.5	48.2	59.0
April	53.5	48.7	52.1	49.1	49.2	59.1
May	53.1	49.2	51.6	49.8	49.1	57.8
June	53.7	50.8	51.6	50.6	48.7	58.6
July	53.9	49.9	51.4	49.5	48.5	59.5
August	53.5	49.8	52.6	50.4	49.1	59.4
September	53.7	51.4	51.7	50.1	49.7	61.1
October	54.0	50.9	53.7	51.5	50.0	60.6
November	54.7	51.8	53.5	51.4	50.6	60.7
December	54.5	52.1	56.2	51.9	50.0	59.5
2017-January	54.6	51.3	55.1	51.0	49.8	58.9
February	54.2	51.2	53.7	51.4	49.7	62.4
March	55.1	51.9	52.3	49.7	49.1	61.3

Other Indices of China's Non-manufacturing PMI (Seasonally adjusted)
Unit: %
	Foreign New Orders Index	Unfilled Orders Index	Stock Index	Supplier Delivery Time Index

2016-March	47.8	43.4	45.9	51.4
April	45.7	43.6	45.4	51.8
May	49.5	43.6	45.6	51.4
June	48.6	43.1	46.0	52.3
July	47.5	42.8	46.3	51.9
August	48.8	43.0	45.5	51.7
September	48.3	43.6	45.9	52.0
October	51.4	44.0	45.3	51.4
November	50.9	44.2	45.8	51.5
December	48.9	44.0	47.2	51.6
2017-January	46.4	44.6	46.2	51.4
February	50.1	43.5	45.8	52.1
March	48.8	44.7	45.8	51.4

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes

China non-manufacturing purchasing manager index system constituted by 10 sub-indices, they are business activity index, new orders index, new export orders index in hand orders index, stock index, input price index, sales price index, employment index, supplier delivery time index, and business activities expectation index. Due to the lack of synthesis of non-manufacturing integrated PMI index, the international society often used business activity index to reflect the overall changes in non-manufacturing economic development, A PMI reading above 50 percent indicates expansion from the previous month, while below indicates contraction.

2. Statistical Coverage

The survey involves 31 non-manufacturing industry divisions in the “Industrial Classification for National Economic Activities" (GB/T4754-2011), and was conducted in 4000 sampling enterprises of the non-manufacturing sector countrywide.

3. Survey Methods

Non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ survey was conducted in PPS ( Probability Proportional to Size) sampling method, using the non-manufacturing sectors as the selecting layers, distribution of sample size was according to their value-added accounted for the proportion of total non-manufacturing value-added, and samples within layers and the main business revenue of the enterprises were selected by the PPS.

The survey was organized and conducted by staff members of survey offices, monthly through Online Reporting System of NBS by sending survey questionnaires to the purchasing managers of the selected enterprises.

4. Calculation Methods

Non-manufacturing purchasing managers survey involves 10 questions on production, new orders (business required), export, existing orders, finished goods inventory, intermediate input price, subscription price, employees, suppliers delivery time, and business activities expectation. Diffusion index was calculated on each question, i.e. percentage of positive answers in number of enterprises plus half of the percentage in the same answers.

5. Seasonal Adjustment Note

The purchasing managers survey is a monthly survey, great fluctuations of data which affected by seasonal factors. The sub-indices of non-manufacturing PMI data released currently were all seasonally adjusted.