(File photo:VCG)

China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing industry came in at 51.5 percent in September, up 0.5 percentage points from August, said the report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday. It's an indication that manufacturing activities are picking up and have remained in the expansion region for seven months since China's manufacturing sector was heavily battered in February to a record low.

This came after the increase of manufacturing activities at 5.6 percent in August at the fastest speed in two years, suggesting a recovery in policy support as well as in consumer spending and business productivity.

The figure showed that the index for production, the new orders and the supplier delivery time are all above the critical point, according to the report.

From the perspective of industry categories, the new orders index reached 54.0 percent, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous month, indicating a faster recovery in demand from non-manufacturing markets.

The indexes of business activities in tourism and technology areas such as railway transportation, air transportation, accommodation, catering, telecommunication, TV satellite transmission services are at or above 60.0 percent, while only the indexes of business activities in capital market services are below the critical point.

Meanwhile, the composite PMI output index was 55.1 percent in September, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous month, indicating that the production and business activities of Chinese enterprises have accelerated.

The rebound came in line with the World Bank's statement on Monday suggesting China's economy is expected to grow by 2.0 percent in 2020, up from the one percent growth projection released in June.

As China has successfully contained the epidemic, China's real economic production related to the manufacturing industry has shown a sustained recovery trend, which is recognized internationally, Tian Yun, vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The rebound has been driven by a sharp rebound in China's exports, with the new orders index reached 54.0 percent, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous month.

"This shows that many countries are recovering while controlling the epidemic. But more importantly, although their economies are recovering, their domestic manufacturing industry has not caught up, complementing China's fully recovered manufacturing industry," said Tian.

Despite the nationwide disruption of manufacturing activities in February that battered China's manufacturing industry to a record low 35.7 percent amid the economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the figure has recovered and remained in the expansion region for seven months.

Given that the global economy is growing at -3 to -5 percent this year, China, as one of the few countries with positive growth, is likely to add two-thirds or even 80 percent of its contribution to the global economy this year, Tian predicated.