China’s PMI rebounds in March as industrial activity resumes

China’s official Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) - which indicates the level of factory activity - rebounded in March after plunging to a record low in February at the height of COVID-19, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported.

The PMI rose to 52.0 in March from 35.7 in February. PMI readings above 50 signal expansion while those below that level indicate contraction.

NBS explained the expansion in March reflects improved prevention and control of COVID-19, the resumption of factory activity, as well as the low base in February.

However, it cautioned, "We cannot say China’s economy has fully returned to normal levels based on a single month. We need to continue observing changes in the following months."

Factory output in the world’s second biggest economy after the US had been curtailed in recent months by large scale lockdowns and logistics logjams which effectively shut supply-side production. But as COVID-19 cases get fewer and travel restrictions are being lifted, the hit is coming from overseas with infections increasing in the rest of the world and exports markets in lockdown.