Chinese manufacturing activity strengthened in June but the leading indices provided further evidence that the country’s steel market recovery will be largely domestically-driven. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, published by Chinese media company Caixin, rose to 51.2 points in June from 50.7 in May, on the back of stronger production and better sales. It was the second consecutive monthly increase and the strongest reading since last December, the PMI released on June 1 showed. Caixin’s report showed that new domestic orders grew for the first time since January as factory activity was restored following the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent restrictions. But new export orders continued to decline “amid reports of weak external demand.” The manufacturing PMI published by the National Bureau of Statistics, or NBS, on May 30 showed that new export orders rose by […]