Factory activity falls for second straight month

Losing steam: A man works on the production line of Nio electric vehicles at a plant in Hefei. China’s August PMIs confirmed signals from high-frequency data – the economy continued to lose speed over the summer. — China Daily via Reuters

BEIJING: China’s factory activity contracted in August for a second straight month, with the economy taking a hit from power shortages spurred by a historic drought, on top of a property market crisis and Covid outbreaks.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 49.4 from 49 in July, according to a statement from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).