BEIJING: China's official purchasing managers' index fell to 52.2 in February from 52.9 in Jannuary, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on Tuesday.

The federation compiles the index on behalf of the National Bureau of Statistics.

The reading compared with the median forecast of 52.0 in a Reuters poll.

It was the 24th straight month that the official PMI has stood above the threshold of 50 that demarcates expansion from contraction.

The input prices sub-index, a measure of how much factories pay for raw materials and intermediary goods, rose to 70.1 in February from 69.3 in January.