China's manufacturing growth seen picking up slightly in March - Reuters poll

According to the results of the latest Reuters poll of 29 economists, China’s manufacturing sector activity is expected to pick up slightly in the month of March, largely on the back of winter industrial pollution restrictions and steel mills output cuts.

The official PMI survey will be published on March 31.

Key Findings:

“The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is expected to have risen to 50.5 in March, from February’s 50.3.

That would mark the 20th straight month of expansion for China’s vast manufacturing sector, and reinforce consensus views that the world’s second-largest economy will see only a modest slowdown in growth this year.

Economists expect a private survey on China’s factory activity next week will show a similar firming trend as in the official survey after growth in February picked up to a six-month high.

They predict the private Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ index (PMI) will be 51.7 in March versus 51.6 the previous month.”