beijing march 1 reuters  chinas factory activity returned to growth in february buoyed by expanding new orders a private poll showed on tuesday although employment remained mired in contraction and inflationary pressures intensified the caixinmarkit manufacturing purchasing managers index pmi rose to 504 in february pulling away from a twoyear low of 491 in the previous month economists in a reuters poll had expected the index to edge up to 493 the 50 mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis the improved reading was in line with the official pmi released earlier in the day which showed the index at 502 last month just a touch higher from 501 in january a subindex for new orders stood at 515 the highest since june 2021 and up significantly from 485 in the previous month as factories reported stronger customer demand factory output also expanded to meet the new demand although by a lesser margin at 501 from 484 the previous month the survey showed the upturn was driven by manufacturers of consumer goods as output fell at intermediate and investment goods producers chinas economy started last year on a strong footing rebounding from a pandemicinduced slump in 2020 momentum started to flag in the summer however weighed down by debt problems in the property market and strict antivirus measures that hit consumer confidence and spending policymakers have vowed to stabilise growth this year and all eyes are on the annual meeting of its top legislative body that begins on march 5 during which the government will unveil economic targets for the year and likely more stimulus measures despite some of the improvements in the latest caixin pmi factories continued to reduce their headcounts for the seventh straight month highlighting the longstanding challenges facing the manufacturing sector from supply chain issues sporadic covid19 outbreaks and weak consumer demand from january to february several regions across china including jiangsu province and the guangxi zhuang and inner mongolia autonomous regions suffered flareups of covid19 epidemic control measures were strengthened which restricted transportation and sales of manufactured goods said wang zhe senior economist at caixin insight group in a statement accompanying the data release policymakers should enhance support policies to encourage employment strengthen structural support for small and midsize enterprises and effectively reduce tax burdens and fundraising costs for companies inflationary pressures picked up with input prices surging at the fastest rate in four months factories would be able to pass on some of the costs to customers as output prices rose for the second straight month manufacturers confidence towards the year ahead rose to the highest in eight months reporting by stella qiu and ryan woo editing by shri navaratnam