BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory activity contracted for the third straight month in December and at a sharper pace, official data showed on Saturday, weighed down by the spread of COVID infections through production lines following Beijing’s abrupt easing of anti-virus measures.
The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) stood at 47.0 against a 48.0 reading in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. Economists in a Reuters poll had expected the PMI to come in at 48.0.
The 50-point mark separates contraction from growth on a monthly basis.
(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Joe Cash and Ellen Zhang; Editing by Sam Holmes and Kim Coghill)
