China manufacturing sinks for fourth straight month in July
BEIJING
China's factory output shrank more than expected for the fourth straight month in July, official data showed on July 31, as Beijing battles to hammer out a trade deal with the United States.
The Purchasing Managers' Index, a key measure of industrial output, came in at 49.3, down from 49.7 in June and significantly off the 50-point mark separating growth and contraction.
A Bloomberg analysts' poll had forecast the index would be the same as in June.
The decline was driven by factors such as the industry's traditional slack period as well as high temperatures, heavy rains and floods in some areas, said Zhao Qinghe, a statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics.
China has struggled to maintain a strong economic recovery since the pandemic, as it fights a debt crisis in the crucial property sector, chronically low consumption and elevated youth unemployment.
A spate of natural disasters has also hit the country this summer, with at least 48 people killed and tens of thousands evacuated this week as Beijing endured some of its worst floods in years.
China's bruising trade war with the United States, now on hold pending a deal, has hit the export-dependent economy.
Beijing and Washington called a 90-day truce on the staggeringly high duties in May, and held two days of talks this week aimed at avoiding their reimposition on August 12.
Despite signs that both sides want to extend that deadline, the negotiations ended without an agreement.
