The Headline Sales Managers’ Index for November registered a value of 51.6, unchanged from its value in October.
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The value indicates that Chinese economic activity is growing at a slower rate than in the summer months, but that the rate of growth has now stabilized after the long slowdown.
The Sales Managers' Index is the first monthly economic activity index released covering all private sectors of the Chinese economy. It is designed to reflect overall economic growth, bringing together the average movement of Confidence, Market Expansion, Product Sales, Prices Charged and Staffing Indices.
Sector analysis for November shows that the headline Manufacturing SMI reported a value of 51.1, down fractionally on the month before. The Services SMI Index rose to 52.2, a marginal rise, but the second successive positive monthly change. This indicates that both indices are showing balanced, but slow growth across both sectors.
The Business Confidence Index fell in November by 0.5, the eleventh successive monthly fall in the value of this index. This is the lowest level attained since the survey was started.
he Index measures how Sales Managers’ expect the economy as a whole to perform over the coming months and provides a valuable sentiment insight as confidence has an impact on investment, jobs and sales growth.
The Index value for Market Growth in November rose to reach 52.2, the second successive monthly rise, but the rise was too small to indicate any change in trend. In contrast, the Product Sales Index which represents sales made by panelists' own companies in the month fell marginally from its value in October.
Prices Charged for goods and services in November registered a rise of 0.3 to reach an index value of 48.4. This is the second successive monthly rise, but the index has been below 50.0 for over twelve months indicating that prices charged for goods and services in China are still falling.
In answer to a special question posed to panelists in November, only 13.2% of Chinese Sales Managers’ now believe the valuation of the Yuan is negatively affecting their business, down by 2% from the previous month.
This reflects the undervaluation of the Chinese currency as reported in this month’s World Price Index (WPI), a monthly evaluation by World Economics of the purchasing power parity value of the world’s major currencies.
According to the panelists, employment growth in China remains close to the no growth level. The Staffing Index registered a slight fall on its level from October. ■