China’s monthly index of manufacturing activity fell to 50.1 per cent in June, in the latest sign of doubt over the world’s second-largest economy’s ability to maintain its rapid growth.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index for the manufacturing sector had rebounded slightly to 50.8 in May after slowing to 50.6 in April, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said.
The 50 per cent mark denotes the divide between expansion and contraction.
The index has remained above 50 per cent since October, which the government earlier said was a sign that it had arrested a slowdown in growth.
In the first quarter of 2013, China’s economic growth was a weaker-than-expected 7.7 per cent.
China’s annual economic growth fell to 7.8 per cent last year, the slowest since 1999, down from 9.3 per cent in 2011.