Workers work at a workshop of a glass company in Nanhe county, north China's Hebei province, April 29, 2020. (ZHU XUDONG / XINHUA)
BEIJING - The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector eased to 50.8 in April from 52 in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.
Business activities of the country's manufacturing sector continued to pick up in April, although by a smaller margin than last month, NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said.
As the COVID-19 epidemic continued to recede, 98.5 percent of China's large and medium-sized enterprises had resumed production as of April 25, up 1.9 percentage points from one month ago, NBS data showed.
Business activities of the country's manufacturing sector continued to pick up in April, although by a smaller margin than last month, NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said
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The sub-index gauging the speed of raw materials delivery by suppliers rebounded by 1.9 percentage points to 50.1, while that of raw material inventory slid to 48.2.
The reading also showed that demand is recovering slower than production, citing the sub-reading of 50.2 for new orders compared with 53.7 for production, Zhao said.
Thursday's data also showed China's composite PMI rose 0.4 percentage points to 53.4, signaling that overall operations by manufacturing and non-manufacturing enterprises kept expanding.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.
Non-manufacturing PMI picks up
At the same time, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 53.2 in April, up from 52.3 in March, NBS also announced Thursday.
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The sub-index for business activities in the construction sector went up 4.6 points from the previous month to 59.7, while that for the service sector stood at 52.1, up 0.3 points from March.
Driven by policies in advancing work and business restoration as well as expanding consumption, most service activities steadily resumed, said NBS' Zhao.
According to Zhao Business activities in the retails sector has been above 60 for two months in a row as the restoration of business operation accelerates.
