Supply Chain Research

Chinese manufacturing sentiment worsened in April, with export expectations remaining in negative territory. Yet, the export reading improved to 49.2% – 50% indicates a neutral outlook for orders – which was the best since August. That compares to German sentiment which has hit its worst result since 2012, though U.S. auto tariffs and Brexit are differentiating factors versus China. Improving Chinese sentiment is being partly driven by the electronics sector. In turn that’s likely down to semiconductors, where exports improved by 21.3% year over year in 1Q, rather than telecoms where exp...