Labourers work in a clothing factory in Huaibei, north China’s Anhui province on May 23, 2013. Manufacturing activity in China contracted in May for the first time in seven months, HSBC said on May 23, in another sign of the weakness of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy Growth in China’s manufacturing sector slowed for the first time in six months in December, dragged down by weak demand for Chinese exports, according to an official purchasing manager’s index. The state-sponsored PMI fell to 51 in December, down from 51.4 in November, marking a four-month low and highlighting the challenges facing the ruling Communist party as it tries to transform the growth model in the world’s second-largest economy. “From the overall situation we can predict that the future industrial growth rate will decline, the export growth rate may drop and economic growth is still under downward pressure,” said economist Zhang […]