China's factory activity improves after Shanghai reopens

A worker at SMC, a Japanese pneumatic engineering company, assembles products at a factory in Beijing on Wednesday, May 13, 2020. China's manufacturing activity improved in June after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers were eased, a survey showed Thursday, June 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, FIle)

Workers inspect newly assembled cars at a Beijing Benz Automotive Co. Ltd factory, a German joint venture company for Mercedes-Benz, in Beijing on Wednesday, May 13, 2020. China's manufacturing activity improved in June after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers were eased, a survey showed Thursday, June 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

A worker at SMC China, a Japanese joint venture pneumatic engineering company, assembles products at a factory in Beijing, May 13, 2020. China's manufacturing activity improved in June after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers were eased, a survey showed Thursday, June 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

A worker wearing a face mask and groves writes down the stock sales at a shoes shop in Beijing on June 27, 2022. China's manufacturing activity improved in June after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers were eased, a survey showed Thursday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A woman wearing a face mask looks at a shoes shop having a stock clearing sales in Beijing on June 27, 2022. China's manufacturing activity improved in June after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers were eased, a survey showed Thursday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING (AP) — China's manufacturing activity improved in June after anti-virus controls that shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers were eased, a survey showed Thursday.

The monthly purchasing managers’ index released by the national statistics bureau and an industry group rose to 50.2 from May’s 49.6 on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 indicate activity increasing.

The survey showed employment and new orders contracted in May but at a slower rate.

Forecasters expect economic growth for the quarter ending in June to fall close to zero after Shanghai and other industrial centers were shut down to contain coronavirus outbreaks. Factories, offices and shops were allowed to reopen but economists say it might take months for activity to return to normal.

The latest data indicate "full recovery will take some time,” said Iris Pang of ING in a report.