people wearing face masks walk at a main shopping area following the coronavirus disease covid19 outbreak in shanghai china january 27 2021 reutersaly song tokyo sept 1 reuters  asias factory activity lost momentum in august as a resurgence in coronavirus cases disrupted supply chains across the region raising concerns faltering manufacturing will add to the economic woes caused by slumping consumption manufacturing activity in august expanded at a slower rate in japan south korea and taiwan as chip shortages and factory shutdowns disrupted production in a fresh sign of the lingering impact of the pandemic surveys showed on wednesday chinas factory activity slipped into contraction in august for the first time in nearly 112 years as covid19 containment measures supply bottlenecks and high raw material prices weighed on output read more the result was well below market expectations underscoring the fragile nature of chinas recovery that had helped the global economy emerge from the pandemicinduced doldrums virus disruptions add to the list of headwinds for the regions producers including semiconductor shortages and high shipping costs said alex holmes emerging asia economist at capital economics the caixinmarkit manufacturing purchasing managers index pmi fell to 492 last month from 503 in july breaching the 50mark that separates growth from contraction the latest covid19 resurgence has posed a severe challenge to the economic normalisation that began in the second quarter of last year said wang zhe senior economist at caixin insight group the private sector survey followed official pmi released on tuesday which showed the index falling in august but staying above the 50 mark read more the final au jibun bank japan pmi in august eased to 527 from 530 in the previous month with new export orders posting their first contraction since january read more south koreas pmi for august stood at 512 falling from 530 in july but staying above the 50 threshold for an 11th straight month read more taiwans pmi eased to 585 in august from 597 in july while vietnam saw factory activity shrink to 402 from 451 in july surveys showed once seen as a driver of global growth asians emerging economies are lagging advanced economies in recovering from the pandemics pain as delays in vaccine rollouts and a spike in delta variant cases hurt consumption and factory production