Employees work on a production line manufacturing metal parts for furniture at a factory in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, on Apr 30, 2020. BEIJING: China's manufacturing activity likely contracted for a second month in June, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday, keeping alive calls for fresh stimulus after a string of recent indicators showed the economy struggling to get back on its feet.
The PMI, a sentiment-based survey, has at times presented a gloomier picture of the economy than some of the harder data, but disappointing May industrial output and profits numbers suggest factory owners have every reason to be worried. Policy support and strong exports should help the US$18.6 trillion economy grow 5.5 per cent this year, said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China Economics at Capital Economics, although he cautioned he was"less sanguine about the medium-term outlook."