China's manufacturing PMI up in May

A worker operates at a factory of Harbin Boiler Co., Ltd. of Harbin Electric Corporation in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, April 14, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 49.6 in May, up from 47.4 in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.

"China's economy took a hit from the Omicron outbreak and changes in the international situation, but it has improved in May due to the effective coordination of epidemic containment and economic and social development," NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

The sub-index for production stood at 49.7 in May, up 5.3 percentage points from the previous month, and the sub-index for new orders stood at 48.2, up 5.6 percentage points from April.

Tuesday's data also showed that the PMI for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 47.8 in May, up from 41.9 in April.