On March 31, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in March was 50.4%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the previous month. It returned above the boom-bust line after two months, indicating that the prosperity of China’s manufacturing industry has improved significantly and the momentum of economic recovery has been confirmed.

From the perspective of sub-data, both production and demand expanded simultaneously. The production index and new order index reached 51.4% and 51.6% respectively, both showing significant increases from the previous month, indicating that the pace of resumption of work and production of manufacturing enterprises has accelerated and market demand has continued to improve. The PMIs of large, medium and small enterprises all rebounded. Among them, the PMI of large enterprises was 51.6%, with a steady upward trend in prosperity; although the PMIs of small and medium-sized enterprises are still below the boom-bust line, they have improved significantly from the previous month, and the operating pressure has been alleviated.

In addition, the high-tech manufacturing PMI has been above the critical point for 14 consecutive months, and the PMIs of the equipment manufacturing industry and consumer goods industry have both risen to the expansion zone, showing a good development trend in emerging industries and the consumer sector. However, it is worth noting that affected by the rise in commodity prices, the manufacturing raw material purchase price index has rebounded sharply, and some enterprises are facing cost pressure. Experts said that the positive PMI data has laid the foundation for economic recovery throughout the year, and subsequent efforts need to be made to stabilize growth and protect market entities to promote high-quality economic development.