The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector was back to growth in December last year after declining for two months, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said Monday.

The December PMI for non-manufacturing sector rises to 56.5 percent, 3.3 percentage points higher than a month earlier, the CFLP said in a statement on its website.

The figure declined month on month in October and November last year to a nine-month low of 53.2 percent in November.

The non-manufacturing PMI is a package of indices that measure the non-manufacturing sector's performance.

A reading above 50 percent indicates economic expansion while one below 50 percent indicates economic contraction. It was the eighth straight month the reading was above 50 percent.

The monthly rise had reflected a steady growth in China's non-manufacturing sector, with new orders index 2.2 percentage points higher month on month to 52.3 percent and new export orders jumped 3.3 percentage points to 50.6 percent, said the CFLP.

According to the CFLP, the New Year holiday, as well as the coming Lunar New Year holiday, or Spring Festival, which falls on early February this year, has led to a rebound in the consumer service sector, especially in the retailing and the catering businesses.

The rapid growth in the information service industry has also contributed to the rise, which had largely driven up the producer service sector, of which the business activity index was up 4.3 percentage points to 59.7 percent, it said.

The CFLP also pointed out that the intermediate input price index for December was down 0.7 percentage points from the November level to 65.9 percent, indicating that inflation condition has not worsened in the past month, but it suggested the government closely monitor its future trend.

Noticeably, the new order index for the real estate industry remained below 50 percent by falling 2.3 percentage points to 45 percent, which was "a move toward the government's macro-control target", said the statement.