BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) -- China\'s non-manufacturing sector is still growing at a relatively fast pace, as shown by data released on Monday.

 

The purchasing managers index (PMI) for the non-manufacturing sector stood at 54.3 percent in May, down from 54.5 percent for April, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said.

 

A PMI reading above 50 percent indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 percent indicates contraction. [ \"The non-manufacturing PMI stood above 54 percent in May, indicating the sector is still growing at a relatively fast pace,\" said Cai Jin, vice chairman of CFLP.

 

As the country\'s manufacturing PMI also stayed above the boom-bust line of 50 percent last month, China is still experiencing steady economic growth, Cai said.

 

The sub-index for service business activity stood at 52.3 percent in May, down 0.2 percentage point from the previous month, while the sub-index for construction activity also dropped 0.2 percentage point from April to 62.2 percent.

 

The sub-index for new orders fell 0.8 percentage point from a month earlier to 50.1 percent.

 

The sub-index for intermediate input prices rose by 3.3 percentage points month on month to reach 54.4 percent. This showed that companies in the sector were experiencing higher input prices during production, the NBS said.

 

The sub-index for business outlook continued to stay at a high level in May, up slightly from April to 62.9 percent, indicating enterprises were optimistic about the sector\'s growth prospects in the next three months.

 

The non-manufacturing PMI is based on a survey of about 1,200 companies in 27 industries, including transportation, real estate, catering and software development.

 

China\'s PMI for the manufacturing sector rose to 50.8 percent in May from 50.6 percent in April, the CFLP said on Saturday.