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 on April 30.

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

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.

The sub-index for production edged down 0.4 percentage points to 53.7 in April, and that measuring the sector's demand for employees was down by 0.7 percentage points to 50.2, both indicating continued expansion.

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.

Data released on April 30 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.