This episode contains segments on:
- China Official August Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)
- RatingDog China General Manufacturing and Services PMIs
- Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development
EURObiz July/August 2025 issue is available to download from the European Chamber’s official website for free.
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Read more:
China Official August PMI (NBS)
https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202508/t20250831_1960937.html
RatingDog China General Manufacturing and Services PMIs
https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/48effcfa297f41e68d9499b39e7485fe
https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/b57b29dfeeec4428851a91cb28dc5c4a
Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development
https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/202508/content_7038144.htm
EURObiz July/August 2025
https://www.europeanchamber.com.cn/en/eurobiz-archive-2025
Transcript:
XINHE: Hello and welcome to China ShortCuts,
MARIANN: the European Chamber’s weekly catchup on China’s business landscape.
XINHE: This episode was recorded on 4th September 2025.
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XINHE: Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on 31st August showed that China’s manufacturing activity continued to decline for the fifth consecutive month in August as demand remained subdued.
MARIANN: The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index or PMI stood at 49.4 points – below the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction. The headline index improved 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. This was largely due to an uptick in production. However, while the decline in new orders narrowed from the previous month, the corresponding subindex remained under 50-points for the second month in a row. Employment levels in the manufacturing sector shrank further from July.
The non-manufacturing PMI, which comprises services and construction data, indicated an increase in activity, rising to 50.3 points in August. This was propelled by a rebound in services activity, with the tertiary sector recording the fastest pace of expansion all year. Construction activity meanwhile dropped sharply, with the index sinking below the 50-point mark for the first time since January.
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XINHE: A private survey conducted by S&P Global in affiliation with the Shenzhen-based financial technology company RatingDog found that manufacturing conditions in China improved in August, as production, boosted by an uptick in demand, returned to growth.
MARIANN: The RatingDog China General Manufacturing PMI—previously known as Caixin Manufacturing PMI—stood at 50.5 points in August. This was primarily attributed to a spike in new orders, with the rate of growth the fastest recorded since March. Survey respondents highlighted that this was propelled by an improvement in domestic demand, with new export orders falling slightly. The overall improvement in manufacturing conditions, however, was not enough to put a stop to a decrease in staffing levels in the sector, which continued for the fifth consecutive month. Yao Yu, founder of RatingDog, commented that as policies aimed at curbing unhealthy competition at low prices have been announced, input prices have continued to increase, but manufacturing firms’ profitability has only showed a slight recovery and remains under pressure.
XINHE: A separate statement, released on 3rd September, showed that the RatingDog China General Services PMI reached 53 points in August, the fastest rate of increase since May 2024.
MARIANN: The increase in services activity followed an increase in both overall new orders and new export business. Survey respondents mentioned a rise in tourism as one of the key factors behind faster sales growth. Despite this, service companies were still reluctant to increase staffing levels amid concerns over costs.
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XINHE: On 28th August, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly released new guidelines on advancing the high-quality development of China’s cities.
MARIANN: The Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development sets a 2030 deadline for achieving “foundational progress” in this area, and calls for a modern urban model with Chinese characteristics to be basically realised by 2035. Some of the key directions for development listed in the document include transitioning from a growth-driven pattern to a people-orientated one, and from a uniform pattern to a distinctive one that takes into account the given city’s characteristics. It also calls for development plans to be more coordinated across regions.
These guidelines follow recent disapproval from China’s leadership about the lack of diversity in local governments’ development plans. At a conference on urban work held on 14th July 2025 in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping had criticised local governments for focussing their efforts on the same emerging industries, such as artificial intelligence, computing power and new energy vehicles.
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XINHE: The 87th edition of the Chamber’s bimonthly, digital magazine EURObiz focusses on China’s summer economy and features some of the highlights from the Chamber’s recent Business Confidence Survey.
MARIANN: Articles featured in the July/August issue delve into topics such as how European companies can benefit from China’s resurgent tourism industry, and how they can navigate the impact that warmer weather is having on cold chain logistics.
XINHE: Download the latest issue for free from the Chamber’s website to learn more.
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MARIANN: Thanks for listening, and don’t forget to tune in again next week.
XINHE: In the meantime, please find useful links in the episode notes.