Manufacturing growth slower in September

China's manufacturing sector expanded at a slower pace in September, partly due to weakened export performance, official data showed on Sunday.

The country's manufacturing purchasing managers index came in at 50.8 in September, narrowing from 51.3 in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Despite a slowdown in growth, this is the 26th consecutive month that the official manufacturing PMI stayed above 50. A reading above 50 indicates expansion while a reading below reflects contraction.

"Production continued to expand, while market demand remained generally stable," said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

The subindex for production edged down from 53.3 in August to 53 in September, while the subindex for new orders dipped from 52.2 in August to 52 in September.

Sunday's data came as China works to upgrade its sprawling manufacturing sector in the face of ongoing China-US trade tensions.

"Though the growth of manufacturing activity slowed, China's economic fundamentals remain healthy. The fact that manufacturing has been expanding for more than two years underlines the resilience of China's industrial sector in challenging times," said Qu Xianming of the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee think tank.

As companies scramble to realize innovation-driven expansion and embrace automation and digital technologies to improve plants and management, they will be in a better position to handle risks, Qu said, adding that there is no need to worry about China's economy.

The NBS data show that large scale companies maintained sound momentum in September, with their PMI index standing at 52.1, the same level as last month.

According to Qu, more effort is needed to help small and medium-sized enterprises deal with the possibility of slower orders by boosting productivity.

In September, China's nonmanufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace, with the PMI for the sector hitting 54.9, up from 54.2 in August.

The services sector, which accounts for more than half of the country's GDP, maintained stable growth, with the subindex measuring business activity in the industry standing at 53.4 in September, flat with August.

Rapid expansion was seen in industries including transportation, retail and telecommunications, according to NBS.

Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said last week that the nation is capable of addressing risks in the manufacturing sector as the country's sprawling industrial scale and increased innovation capacity allow it to maintain a stable performance.

"Our huge domestic market, a complete industry chain and a quality-assurance system have laid a solid foundation for manufacturing," Miao added.

In the first eight months of this year, the annual growth rate of China's high-tech manufacturing hit 11.9 percent, highlighting steady improvement in industrial value.

Xinhua contributed to the story.