(Yicai Global) July 31 -- China's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), an indicator of industrial operation, stood at 51.4 percent this month, a slight drop of 0.3 percentage points over last month and basically flat with the average in the first six months, showing a stable overall trend in the manufacturing sector.

However, nearly 40 percent enterprises believe labor costs have risen, indicating still-heavy labor pressure on enterprises.

This year, PMI has remained between 51.0 percent and 52.0 percent, holding an overall stable trend, data jointly issued on July 31 by the Service Survey Center of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing shows. July's manufacturing activity slowed from high temperatures in much of the country and floods in some regions, but the supply-demand relationship improved, said Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at the NBS Service Survey Center, adding that enterprises increased procurement efforts and the market is expected to continue to improve.

The data released on the same day also shows China's non-manufacturing business activity index was 54.5 percent this month, down 0.4 percentage points over the previous month and basically flat with the average in the first six months.