FACTORIES in China were dealt a devastating blow in February as the coronavirus epidemic triggered the sharpest contraction in activity on record, a private survey showed yesterday.

The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) tumbled to 40.3 last month, the lowest level since the survey began in 2004, and down sharply from the 51.1 reading in January as well as the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction.

The headline number was well off a recent poll forecast at 45.7 and even worse than the depths of the financial crisis in 2008-09, underlining the crippling effects of the virus across the country.

The findings, which focus mostly on small and export-oriented businesses, were backed by an equally grim official survey released Saturday, which showed the steepest contraction on record.

“China’s manufacturing economy was impacted by the epidemic last month. The supply and demand sides both weakened, supply chains became stagnant, and there was a big backlog of previous orders,” Zhong Zhengsheng, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group, said in comments on the survey.

The survey showed factory production and new orders collapsing to the worst levels on record, while employment also took a heavy blow. There was no respite for exporters either, with new export orders sinking at one of the sharpest rates in the series history.(SD-Agencies)