Asian manufacturers continued the recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic in October, with India registering the most significant expansion, surveys of Purchasing Managers’ Index showed. India’s manufacturing PMI came in at 58.9 in October, extending gain from 56.8 in September to the highest in more than a decade. South Korean factories registered a PMI reading of 51.2 last month, advancing from 49.8 in September. The manufacturing activity in Taiwan and Thailand also moved above the neutral threshold of 50 in October.
The continued recovery in Chinese factories lent support to the region’s manufacturing activity. An official survey showed a manufacturing PMI figure of 51.4 in October, decreasing slightly from 51.5 in September, but remained above the 50-point benchmark. Meanwhile, a separate survey by private institutions showed China’s manufacturing PMI at 53.6 in October, beating analysts’ estimate of 53.0 and marking the sixth straight month of activity expansion. China’s service sector PMI came in at 56.2 last month, rising from 55.9 in September.
Meanwhile, Japan’s manufacturing activity also improved from 47.7 in September to 48.7 in October, but it stayed in the contractionary territory. On the other hand, Malaysia’s and Vietnam’s factory PMI retreated. Malaysia’s manufacturing PMI fell to 48.5 in October, the lowest since May, while Vietnam’s index remained in the expansionary territory.
Despite the recovery in October, resurging COVID-19 cases in Asia’s major trading partners such as the US and European countries cast a shadow on the export demand outlook. Goods trade has been the main growth engine for major global economies in the past few months as the service sector remained grappling with the health crisis.
Tags: All Products,AlwaysFree,Asia Pacific,China,English,ISC,India,Japan,Korea,NEA,SEA,Taiwan,Thailand,Vietnam
Published on November 3, 2020 5:52 PM (GMT+8)Last Updated on November 3, 2020 5:52 PM (GMT+8)
