A private survey showed China’s manufacturing activity slumped in February, as the coronavirus outbreak hit the world’s second largest economy.
On Monday, the Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 40.3 for February — the lowest reading since the survey was launched in early 2004.
“China’s manufacturing economy was impacted by the epidemic last month,” said Zhengsheng Zhong, chief economist at CEBM Group, a Caixin subsidiary. “The supply and demand sides both weakened, supply chains became stagnant, and there was a big backlog of previous orders,” he said in a press release.
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The numbers come as China continues to grapple with the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 2,900 people and infected at least 80,000 others in the mainland. The virus has spread to some 60 countries around the world, but most of those infected and died were from China.