French business, employment climate stable in February: Insee

20:50, February 25, 2020

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  China stresses timely spring farming, stable employment

  (Photo: Xinhua)BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The State Council, Chinas cabinet, on Tuesday stressed the importance of timely spring farming and a steady business environment for stable employment.Local governments should take responsibility for guiding spring farming to ensure stable agricultural production and a bumper harvest, according to a statement released after a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.Efforts should be made to promote agricultural enterprises, involving seed, fertilizer, pesticide and fodder production, to resume work, while establishing smooth channels for the transportation of agricultural materials to ensure sufficient supply.The country will provide support such as extending loans to key poultry suppliers with great losses, and strengthen cooperation between slaughtering enterprises and farmers, said the statement.Steps will be taken to restore hog production, help more farmers to receive subsidies and discounted loans, and increase government purchasing and storage of frozen pork.China will also strengthen the control and prevention of animal diseases including bird flu and African swine fever, enhance monitoring and respond promptly to new outbreaks, according to the statement.The meeting decided to temporarily exempt social insurance payments and defer the collection of housing provident funds to mitigate the impact of the epidemic outbreak on enterprises and ensure stable employment.The balance of the social insurance funds was taken into consideration while making these policies and the timely and full allocation of pension funds can be ensured, said the statement.The meeting urged stepping up efforts on the release of epidemic prevention guidance for work and production resumption based on local realities and canceling unnecessary security deposits.The well-planned return of migrant workers and the expanded scale of online recruitment for college students were also stressed in the statement.The meeting cal...

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  China's manufacturing PMI drops in February amid epidemic

  File photo: XinhuaBEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The purchasing managers index (PMI) for Chinas manufacturing sector stood at 35.7 in February, down from 50 in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday.A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.The sharp decline resulted from the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak, said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.In breakdown, all the surveyed 21 industries of the manufacturing sector stayed in the contraction zone, but the impact of the virus varied on different industries, said Zhao.The PMI for industries, including chemical fiber and automobile, were below 30, while that for food and beverages stayed above 42, supported by the governments production and supply guarantee polices.On a month-on-month basis, the sub-index for new orders came in at 29.3, 1.5 points higher than that for production, signaling a relatively good market demand in February, NBS data showed.Imports and exports saw rising pressure in February, said Zhao, as the sub-indice for new export orders and imports declined to 28.7 and 31.9, respectively, affected by order cancellations and delays in delivery amid the epidemic.Saturdays data also showed Chinas February composite PMI dropped marginally to 28.9 from 53 in January, indicating slower expansion in the overall production of Chinas companies.Although the epidemic has given a hard blow to the business activities of Chinas enterprises in the short term, the growing positive trend of Chinas fight against the virus and the gradual work and production resumption will bring down the negative impact and restore market confidence, said Zhao.As of Feb. 25, the work resumption rate in NBS surveyed large and mid-sized enterprises nationwide has reached 78.9 percent, and it is expected to climb to 90.8 percent by the end of March, according to the NBS.Meanwhile, the recent supporting policies of easing ...

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  China's non-manufacturing PMI drops in February

  File photoBEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The purchasing managers index (PMI) for Chinas non-manufacturing sector came in at 29.6 in February, down from 54.1 in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below it reflects contraction.