China’s factory activity grew at its fastest pace in over three years in November, official data showed Monday, as the world’s second-largest economy continued its recovery from the coronavirus.{ The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a key gauge of manufacturing activity in China, has largely rebounded following strict measures to curb the virus early in the year, coming in at 52.1 this month. This was higher than October’s reading of 51.4, and remains above the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction. The latest figures also bring the PMI data back to levels seen in September 2017. Analysts said improvement in both domestic and external demand boosted manufacturing activity. “The main driver was a rise in new orders… In particular, the export orders component picked up,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist of consultancy Capital Economics. “This suggests that China’s exports continue to benefit from strong foreign demand for Chinese-made goods beyond Covid-19 related products, although fresh lockdowns abroad might have boosted demand for shipments of the latter.” Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics, which publishes the PMI, said Monday both the production and new orders indexes edged up.