Hong Kong Private Sector PMI

The S&P Global Hong Kong SAR PMI rose to 50.7 in August 2025 from 49.2 in July, signaling the first expansion in private sector business conditions in seven months, albeit marginal. The growth reflected a renewed rise in output, the first in five months and the sharpest since November 2024, supported by a relative stabilization of domestic demand. However, new orders from international markets and Mainland China continued to decline sharply, weighed down by higher US tariffs and subdued global conditions. Meanwhile, employment grew slightly, ending three months of job losses, while purchasing activity contracted at a softer pace. In terms of prices, input costs increased further, driven by raw material and wage pressures, though firms kept selling prices broadly unchanged to sustain demand. Despite the modest recovery, sentiment towards the year-ahead outlook remained firmly negative, with concerns over global trade and economic headwinds persisting.

The S&P Global Hong Kong SAR PMI rose to 49.2 in July 2025 from 47.8 in June, marking the highest reading in six months. While this signaled a sixth consecutive monthly contraction in private sector activity, the pace of decline was the softest in the current downturn. The milder deterioration reflected slower declines in both output and total new orders, though foreign demand, particularly from Mainland China, continued to fall sharply. Weak demand conditions also led to renewed job losses, while business confidence remained strongly pessimistic. On the inflation front, input cost pressures accelerated to a four-month high, driven by rising purchase prices. However, selling prices remained broadly stable in July.

The S&P Global Hong Kong SAR PMI dropped to 47.8 in June 2025 from 49.0 in May, marking the lowest reading since March 2022 and the fifth consecutive month of contraction in private sector activity. Output fell at the sharpest pace in a year, while new orders shrank at the fastest rate in over three years. Sales to both mainland China and overseas also declined more rapidly. Firms reduced purchasing activity amid weaker production needs and worked through backlogs for a sixth straight month, even as staffing levels remained unchanged. Supplier delivery times lengthened slightly, ending a three-month run of improved performance. Input cost inflation eased to its slowest pace since January 2021, largely due to cooling wage pressures. However, selling prices were cut for the third time in four months to support demand. Business sentiment fell to its weakest level in nearly five years, weighed down by soft domestic demand, a subdued global outlook, and uncertainty around U.S. trade policy.