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China's factory activity expands at slightly slower pace in May - official PMI

China's factory activity expanded at a slightly slower-than-expected pace in May, as surging raw material prices weighed on industrial production.

FILE PHOTO: Worker wearing a face mask works on a production line manufacturing bicycle steel rim a
FILE PHOTO: A worker wearing a face mask works on a production line manufacturing bicycle steel rim at a factory, as the country is hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China March 2, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS/File Photo

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BEIJING: China's factory activity expanded at a slightly slower-than-expected pace in May, as surging raw material prices weighed on industrial production.

The official manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) fell to 51.0 in May, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, remaining above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.

Analysts had expected a PMI reading of 51.1 in May, unchanged from April.

China's economy expanded a record 18.3per cent in the first quarter of 2021, but the pace of growth slowed in April, the NBS said previously. Supply bottlenecks and rising raw material costs weighed on production that month.

(Reporting by Colin Qian and Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)

Source: Reuters