FILE PHOTO: Workers install the chassis along a production line at a truck factory of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. Ltd (JAC Motors) in Hefei, Anhui province May 5, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
June 30, 2018
BEIJING (Reuters) – Growth in China’s manufacturing sector slowed in June after a better-than-expected performance in May, official data showed, raising concerns about a slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy amid escalating trade tensions with the United States.
The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released on Saturday fell to 51.5 in June, from 51.9 in May, but remained well above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction for the 23rd straight month.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the reading would dip marginally to 51.6.
The findings are in line with a slew of recent data from credit growth to retail sales pointing to slowing growth in China’s economy, as policymakers navigate debt risks and a heated trade dispute with the United States.
(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk and Kevin Yao; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
