Operating conditions stagnated across China's manufacturing sector during August, after a marginal improvement in the previous month. Production and total new orders both rose at slower rates, while export sales continued to decline. Job shedding meanwhile persisted, though the latest reduction in payrolls was the slowest seen in 2016 to date. This in turn contributed to a further rise in backlogs of work.

Price pressures eased, with both input costs and prices charged increasing at weaker rates than seen in July.

The seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers' Index™ (PMI™) - a composite indicator designed to provide a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the manufacturing economy - fell from 50.6 in July to the no-change mark of 50.0 in August. This signalled stagnant operating conditions in the latest survey period, following an improvement in the health of the sector in the previous month.