China manufacturing PMI grows more than expected in April, services lag in World Economy News 01/05/2026 Investing.com– Chinese manufacturing activity grew more than expected in April, purchasing managers index data showed on Thursday, while non-manufacturing activity lagged on softer domestic demand. read 50.3 in April, beating expectations of 50.1 but slowing slightly from the 50.4 seen in the prior month, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The print was driven chiefly by robust overseas demand for Chinese goods, which in turn boosted new orders and industrial activity. Thursday’s print also marked a second consecutive month of expansion for Chinese manufacturing. But overall growth still remained constrained by sluggish domestic demand, while disruptions from the war in the Middle East also likely weighed. But business activity outside the manufacturing sector lagged, with sluggish domestic demand being a major driver of this trend. fell to 49.4 in April, missing expectations of 49.9 and also falling from 50.1 in the prior month. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. The drop was driven chiefly by sluggish domestic demand, as rising fuel prices and heightened uncertainty over economic growth kept Chinese consumers from spending more. Weakness in non-manufacturing activity brought to 50.1 in April, down from 50.5 in the prior month. Thursday’s reading showed that while overall Chinese business activity still remained in expansion, it had cooled from the prior month. This was in part due to disruptions stemming from the Iran war, especially in oil supplies and shipping activity. But private PMI data painted a more positive picture. surged to 52.2 in April, beating expectations of 50.9 and also accelerating sharply from 50.8 in the prior month. The Ratingdog reading differs from the official print on two fronts– in that it focuses more on private industries in the south, while the government PMI focuses on larger state-run enterprises in the north. Investors use both prints to gain a broader picture of the Chinese economy. Source: Investing.com 2026-05-01 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share