Indicator of the export sector’s health shows lowest reading since China-US trade tensions escalated in March.
This story is being published by POLITICO as part of a content partnership with the South China Morning Post. It originally appeared on scmp.com on Aug. 31,2018.
The powerful export machine of China is quickly losing steam amid threats of a full-blown trade war with the United States, an index compiled by Beijing suggests.
The “new export order” subindex in China’s official purchasing manager index – the first available indicator to gauge China’s export sector’s health every month – fell sharply in August even when only a small portion of Washington’s threatened additional tariffs on Chinese products kicked in, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The subindex dropped by 0.4 points to 49.4 in August, the lowest since the China-U. S. trade tension escalated in March, according to data released by the statistics agency.
It was also the third month that the export order subindex had been below 50 – under 50 means a contraction – marking the first time China has had a three-month export downturn in two years.
Small and medium-sized exporters were hit particularly hard, with readings of 47.4 and 48 respectively, while large firms had an index reading of 50.2, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, the agency that compiled the purchasing manager index (PMI) together with the statistics agency.
At the same time, the import subindex fell to 49.1 in August from 49.
