(Yicai Global) Aug. 31 -- China's purchasing managers' index hit its second-highest value of the year this month, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The nation's manufacturing sector was characterized by a continued improvement in supply and demand, steady import growth, and expansion of the equipment manufacturing industry in August, said Zhao Qinghe, an NBS analyst.

China's manufacturing PMI was 51.7 percent last month, up 0.3 percentage point from the previous month and 1.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier, the data showed. The only time the index has been higher this year was at 51.8 percent in March.

Production and new order indices picked up in August compared with July. The import index was 51.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage points from the month before to hit a high for this year. Timber, ferrous metal processing and special equipment manufacturing import indices all reached higher than 55 percent.

Equipment making maintained its rapid growth with continued development in the medium and high-end. The PMI for special equipment making jumped 4.3 percentage points from July, while electrical machinery manufacturing climbed 1.0 percentage point.

The non-manufacturing business activity index for the month was 53.4 percent, the NBS added, down 1.1 percentage points, mostly due to a slowing expansion of the service industry and adverse weather, such as typhoons and rainstorms affecting the construction industry.