BEIJING, March 1 -- China's manufacturing activity has maintained expansion for two straight months, the latest sign of faster economic recovery, official data showed.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 52.6 in February, up from 50.1 in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday in a statement.

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

Thanks to government pro-growth measures and the fading COVID impact, factory production and market activity returned to normalcy at a quicker pace last month, indicating continued improvement in the economic climate, the bureau's senior statistician Zhao Qinghe said.

Breaking down the headline figure, the production index gained 6.9 percentage points from a month earlier to 56.7, suggesting expedited production, and market demand also kept rising as the new orders index reached 54.1, up 3.2 percentage points.

The PMIs for large, medium-sized, and small enterprises stood at 53.7, 52 and 51.2, respectively, all well above the boom-and-bust line.