Asia's manufacturing activities maintain moderate recovery in April

Asia's manufacturing activities maintained moderate recovery in April, according to data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on Monday.

During the period, Africa gathered steam for faster recovery, while Europe and the Americas saw weakened recovery in manufacturing activities.

In April, Asia's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) stood at 51.5 percent, extending an expansion for the second straight month. China's PMI has remained above 50 percent for two consecutive months and ASEAN nations including Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam reported more than 50 percent in PMI.

"At present, the global manufacturing industry remains on a mild and slight recovery track but the development is unbalanced. Asia has an outstanding performance. As of April, Asia's manufacturing purchasing managers' index has remained above 51 percent for two consecutive months. The manufacturing industries of major emerging economies such as China, India, and Vietnam have registered very strong performance," said Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the Economic Policy Commission under the China Association of Policy Science.

In April, Africa's manufacturing PMI came in at 50.7 percent, a month-on-month rise of 1.4 percentage points. The growth rate increased, signaling stronger recovery on the continents' manufacturing activities.

Europe's manufacturing PMI ended a three-consecutive-month upturn and edged down by 0.7 percentage points to 47.7 percent from March. The figure shows that Europe's manufacturing activities have weakened.

The American continent saw its manufacturing PMI dropping by 0.9 percentage points to 49.7 percent. Affected by the declining growth in the United States and Canada's manufacturing sectors, the overall recovery of American continent's manufacturing activities have weakened. In April, the U.S. manufacturing PMI stood at 49.2 percent, 1.1 percentage points lower compared to March, largely due to slowing domestic and foreign demands.

Globally, the manufacturing PMI declined to 49.9 percent in April, 0.4 percentage points lower than in March but slightly higher than the first quarter average of 49.6 percent.

Asia's manufacturing activities maintain moderate recovery in April

Airline companies in the Middle East have been opening new routes to China to cater to the soaring demand.

Dubai,  the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), alone has more than 100 flights every week to major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu and Wuhan.

To better meet the needs of passengers, several airlines in Dubai are planning to launch new routes to China. 

"It's very fast processed. It's very easy.  China is a very good country, very beautiful country. I've been to Shanghai. It's a beautiful city. Wuhan, I hear it's a very, very beautiful city.  I'm planning to go and visit,” said Muhammad, a Syrian tourist who has planned to take a plane from the Dubai International Airport to China.

Chinese airline companies are also planning to add more flights between China and Middle Eastern countries to facilitate people's traveling.  

China Southern Airlines, a leading Chinese airline, currently operates more than 20 weekly flights from UAE's Dubai, Saudi Arabia's Riyadh, Qatar's Doha to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities, and it will launch two new weekly flights from Riyadh to Shenzhen in early June.

Middle Eastern airlines launch new routes to China amid soaring demand