Why factories in southern China are feeling the squeeze despite pickup in orders

As China prepares to release its second-quarter and first-half economic data this week – with markets generally expecting performance to have softened – manufacturers in its southern Pearl River Delta region offer a nuanced picture. While official manufacturing data for June showed continued expansion, electronics exporters in the region – one of China’s biggest industrial areas and a bellwether for the national economy – said last week that a pickup in orders had yet to lift their bottom...