OREANDA-NEWS  In January 2025, manufacturing activity in China declined to its weakest level since August last year. This was reported by the Reuters news agency.

According to him, the official purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to 49.1 in January from 50.1 in December. Although Beijing has already promised to introduce additional incentives, analysts fear that the authorities will continue to focus on modernizing industry and infrastructure, rather than on households. This could worsen the situation with excess capacity in factories, weaken consumption and increase deflationary pressures.

The publication also drew attention to the fact that the profits of Chinese industrial enterprises in 2024 have been falling for the third year in a row. This makes efforts to support the economy all the more urgent, especially in connection with the threats of tariffs from the new administration of US President Donald Trump. For the full year, the profits of industrial enterprises fell by 3.3 percent, continuing the 4.7 percent drop in the period from January to November. Profits of state—owned companies fell by 4.6 percent in 2024, while those of foreign companies fell by 1.7 percent.

Earlier, Trump said he would prefer not to impose duties on China, but acknowledged that this lever gives Washington enormous power over China.