North Asia’s Factories Stuck in Decline as Global Growth Stalls

  • Taiwan, South Korea PMIs still in the red, alongside China
  • Southeast Asia continues to expand, showing widening divide
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North Asia’s export powerhouses continued to stutter in April amid sluggish global trade and a patchy economic recovery in China, according to new data that amplified concerns about the risk of a global recession.

Factories in South Korea and Taiwan saw activity contract last month, according to surveys published Tuesday by S&P Global. Manufacturing purchasing managers’ indexes for those two economies registered readings of 48.1 and 47.1, respectively — each below the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction.