China’s PMI stays sluggish, but commodity imports are still robust

Huge demand: Coal is unloaded from a ship at a port in Lianyungang. Coal imports have been strong since March as the country turned to thermal generation to make up for weaker-than-usual hydropower. — AFP

CHINA’S manufacturing activity turned in another soft performance in August, contracting for a fifth straight month, and adding to the view that the world’s second-largest economy is struggling to reignite growth.

But while the economic data has been weak, China’s imports of most major commodities have been largely unaffected, and arrivals of key resources such as crude oil, iron ore and coal appear to have accelerated in August.