China’s official manufacturing gauge rose to a six-month high in May, but the downside pressure remains high, said the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.

The bureau announced on Monday that the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing rose slightly to 50.2 in May from 50.1 in April. Any reading below the 50-point level indicates contraction.

“Even though there is a small increase in the manufacturing PMI in May, the reading is still at a relatively low level, underscoring the downward pressure the manufacturing industry is facing”, Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician at the statistics bureau, said in a statement accompanying the result.

The survey results show “tight liquidity, insufficient market demand and rising labour costs are the major bottlenecks” for the enterprises in the sector, he added.

Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing PMI slipped to 53.2 in May from April’s 53.4, the statistics bureau also said on Monday. It was the lowest level since December 2008.

China’s gross domestic product expanded at 7 per cent in the first quarter of this year, the slowest pace in more than six years.