The findings, which focus mostly on small and export-oriented businesses, were backed by an equally grim official survey released on Saturday, which showed the steepest contraction on record.
China's
factories were dealt a devastating blow in February as the
coronavirus
epidemic triggered the sharpest contraction in activity on
record, a private survey showed on Monday, with the health crisis
paralysing large parts of the economy.
The
Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) tumbled
to 40.3 last month, the lowest level since the survey began in 2004,
and down sharply from the 51.1 reading in January as well as the
50-mark that separates growth from contraction.
The
headline number was well off a Reuters poll forecast at 45.7 and even
worse than the depths of the financial crisis in 2008-09, underlining
the crippling effects of the virus across the country where
authorities have imposed tough travel curbs and public health
measures to contain the outbreak.
The
findings, which focus mostly on small and export-oriented businesses,
were backed by an equally grim official survey released on Saturday,
which showed the steepest contraction on record.
Both
the official and private surveys provide the first official snapshot
of the state of China's
economy since the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic which has
killed almost 3,000 people in mainland China and infected about
80,000. The virus has also spread rapidly to dozens of countries.
"China's
manufacturing economy was impacted by the epidemic last month. The
supply and demand sides both weakened, supply chains became stagnant,
and there was a big backlog of previous orders," Zhengsheng
Zhong, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, said in
comments on the survey.
The
survey showed factory production and new orders collapsing to the
worst levels on record, while employment also took a heavy blow.
There was no respite for exporters either, with new export orders
sinking at one of the sharpest rates in the series history.
The
output gauge dived to 28.6 last month, from 52 in January, while that
for new business plummeted to 34.9, from 51.9.
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