Guangzhou (JLC), March 4, 2026--China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) extended drops in February 2026, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.
The manufacturing PMI came in at 49.0% in February, a decline of 0.3 percentage points from January. The index has been below the 50% mark, a line that separates growth from contraction, for two months in a row.
Huo Lihui, chief statistician at the NBS Service Survey Center, attributed the fall to a slump in factories' operation and production during the 9-day holiday for the Chinese New Year.
A breakdown of February's manufacturing PMI showed that the sub-index for production stood at 49.6%, a month-on-month decrease of 1 percentage point, the NBS data indicated.
On the demand side, the sub-index for new orders settled at 48.6%, down from 49.2% in the previous month.
Meanwhile, the sub-index for employment fell by 0.1 percentage points month on month to 48.0%, while that for distributor delivery time went down by 1 percentage point to 49.1%. Conversely, the sub-index for raw material inventories reached 47.5%, up 0.1 percentage points from the prior month.
Non-manufacturing index improves modestly
China's non-manufacturing commercial index came in at 49.5% last month, up from 49.4% in January, the NBS data also showed.
The commercial activity index for construction stood at 48.2%, down 0.6 percentage points month on month. The commercial activity index for services, however, rose by 0.2 percentage points to 49.7%.
The commercial activity indexes for accommodation, catering, and entertainment industries were above 60% in February, suggesting high prosperity for these sectors.
In contrast, the indexes for the capital market services and real estate were still below the threshold, the NBS said.
