Manufacturing PMI swings to growth (2)

China's exports surged 11.6 percent year-on-year in October, the fastest growth in five months, while retail sales expanded by 14.5 percent year-on-year in October, hitting a seven-month high.

However, Qu from HSBC warned the economy is still in the early stages of recovery and global economic growth remains fragile.

"This calls for a continuation of policy easing to strengthen the recovery," Qu said.

"Although companies, especially export-oriented companies, have seen orders increase in the past two months due to rising demand in the Christmas shopping season, they are still struggling to make ends meet," Zhou Dewen, director of the Wenzhou Council for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, told the Global Times Thursday.

"Their profit margin is narrowing and they are reluctant to sign long-term orders due to the continuous appreciation of the yuan and rising costs. Their plight calls for the government to continue to reduce taxes, interest rates and administrative fees to ease their burden," he said.

The final results of the HSBC PMI survey will be released on December 3 and those of a separate government-sponsored manufacturing PMI will be published on December 1.

The official PMI reading is usually stronger than the HSBC PMI as the official survey is more focused on large, State-owned firms and the latter on smaller, export-oriented firms.

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