DgcityChina’s manufacturing sector returned to contraction in October, official figures show, as a week-long national holiday disrupted production lines and softer demand at home and abroad weighed on order books. The official purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.3 from 50.1 in September, dropping below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
The pullback was broad. The production sub-index dropped nearly two points to 49.8, while new orders fell to 49.4. Large manufacturers, long the steadiest part of the survey, only narrowly held above the threshold at 50.2. Smaller firms, which employ the bulk of China’s industrial workforce, remained deep in contraction at 47.5.
Statisticians at the National Bureau of Statistics said some activity had simply been pulled forward ahead of the National Day holiday at the start of October, when factories shut for an eight-day break. The survey was also conducted during a month of sharp swings in global markets and renewed friction over trade, leaving managers cautious about committing to new output.
The picture inside the survey was not uniformly weak. High-tech manufacturing held at 51.3 and equipment-making at 50.6, with railway, shipbuilding, aerospace and computer equipment producers reporting especially strong readings of 53 or above. That split mirrors the wider economy, where advanced industries tied to artificial intelligence and electrification are growing fast even as older sectors stagnate.
A separate private survey of manufacturers, which skews toward export-oriented and private firms in coastal regions, told a slightly different story: it eased only marginally to 52.0, with output rising at its fastest pace in six months even as growth in new export orders cooled. The gap between the two readings reflects the relative resilience of larger, export-focused factories against small suppliers serving the weak domestic market.
Price pressures also cooled. The gauge of raw-material purchasing prices dropped four points to 56.8, and factory-gate prices to 51.7, after a run-up in commodity costs earlier in the autumn. With consumer spending still subdued and the property market in its sixth year of decline, policymakers in Beijing are working on a multi-year plan to expand domestic demand, including more direct support for households. October’s PMI suggests that rebalancing still has a long way to run.
