BEIJING - Official data showed Tuesday that the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector was 50.4 in April, down from 50.8 last month.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.
The manufacturing PMI reading has maintained expansion for two consecutive months, indicating the continuous recovery of the sector, said Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Zhao said enterprise production accelerated, and the production index rose 0.7 points to 52.9, the highest since April 2023.
Market demand continued to expand, said Zhao, citing that the new orders index came in at 51.1.
The PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 51.2 in April, down from 53 in March, the NBS said Tuesday
He said enterprises of different scales all saw their PMI above the boom-bust line this month, with the readings for large, medium-sized, and small enterprises at 50.3, 50.7, and 50.3, respectively.
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Zhao also pointed out that new economic drivers maintained brisk expansion. In April, the readings for equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing stood at 51.3 and 53, respectively.
Market sentiment in the manufacturing sector remained stable as the sub-reading for business expectations stood at 55.2, according to the NBS.
Non-manufacturing PMI down in April
The PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 51.2 in April, down from 53 in March, the NBS said Tuesday.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.
Zhao said the figure stays above the boom-bust line, indicating that China's non-manufacturing activities continued expanding in April.
The data showed that the service sector sub-index was 50.3 in April, down from 52.4 in March, reflecting eased growth.
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Services related to rail transport, road transport, postal sector, telecommunications, radio and television, and satellite transmission saw rapid growth in April, while those in the capital market and property sectors logged contraction.
Activity levels in the construction sector edged up as the building of infrastructure facilities accelerated, according to Zhao.
The sub-index for the construction sector reached 56.3 in April, up from 56.2 a month earlier. The reading for the sector's business expectation stood at a high level of 56.1, revealing the growing confidence of construction companies in recent developments in the industry.
