A man works on the production line of a shipbuilding steel enterprise in Tangshan Port economic development zone in Tangshan, North China's Hebei province, Dec 26, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Buoyed by improving market demand amid robust global appetite for artificial intelligence-related products and stronger pro-growth policy support, China's factory activity returned to expansion in June after standing at the boom-bust threshold a month earlier, official data showed on Tuesday.
The latest readings, analysts said, pointed to stronger new growth drivers and resilient export performance as key pillars of economic stabilization, bolstering confidence that China's economy will stay on track to meet its full-year growth target.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that China's official purchasing managers' index for the manufacturing sector came in at 50.3 in June, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.
Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Orient Golden Credit Rating International, said the rebound was mainly driven by a faster recovery in market demand, as the new orders sub-index rose 1.3 percentage points to 51.2, the highest level in three months, according to the NBS.
