The official PMI sub indexes for May showed factory output swung to contraction from expansion while new orders, including new exports, fell for a second month.

The pessimistic outlook for exports suggests that Chinese exporters have caught up on unfulfilled orders after last year's COVID-19 disruptions and global demand is insufficient to sustain a recovery in outbound shipments.Ĭhina's factory activity shrank faster than expected in May on weakening demand, the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed last Wednesday, but a private sector survey released on Thursday unexpectedly swung to growth.

Inbound shipments to the world's second-largest economy were projected to have fallen 8.0% year-on-year, following a drop of 7.9% in April, according to the median forecast of 26 economists in the poll finalised on Monday.Įxports are expected to have shrank 0.4% from a year earlier against growth of 8.5% in April, reflecting weak global demand for Chinese goods and aligning with poor import performance since China brings in parts and materials from abroad to assemble into finished products for export.Ĭhina's trade data will be released on Wednesday.

BEIJING, June 5 (Reuters) - (This story has been refiled to correct the hyperlink format in bullets)Ĭhina's imports are expected to have contracted in May, despite a low base last year as a lockdown in Shanghai brought the country's biggest port to a standstill, while exports likely fell for the first time in three months, a Reuters poll showed.

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