(Yicai) March 1 -- Activity in China’s manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth month in a row in February, as factories closed or scaled back production for the eight-day lunar new year holiday.

The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was 49.1 last month, down from 49.2 in January, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed today. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. The PMI stood at 49 in December, 49.4 in November, 49.5 in October, and 50.2 in September.

Last month was a traditional off-season for manufacturers owing to the Chinese New Year holiday, said Zhao Qinghe, a senior NBS statistician. Many workers returned home for the break, greatly curbing manufacturing activity, he said.

The PMI was generally stable if seasonal factors are excluded, indicating that the economy will continue to maintain a steady recovery trend, according to Zhang Liqun, a contributing analyst at the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

The ex-factory price and future production and operation activity expectation indexes both rose last month, reflecting how businesses were getting ready to resume production, Zhang added.

Overall market demand remained stable with tightening external demand, showing that domestic demand continued to rebound, said Wen Tao, an analyst at the China Logistics Information Center.

A shortfall in demand in the manufacturing sector is still noticeable, Wen said, noting that more than 61 percent of surveyed manufacturers pointed to insufficient demand, indicating that the manufacturing sector still faces weak demand and the need for policies to boost consumption and expand demand.

The economy showed signs of recovery, Zhang noted, but added that the demand index was still in the contraction region. The effect of government investment in driving business orders and production needs to be strengthened to boost the economy, according to Zhang.

February’s non-manufacturing PMI came in at 51.4, up from 50.7 in January, NBS data also showed today. The sub-index for the service sector stood at 51, up from 50.1 in the prior month, while that for the construction industry slid to 53.5 from 53.9. The composite PMI output index was 50.9 for a second month.

Editor: Martin Kadiev