The purchasing managers index (PMI), a barometer of manufacturing activities, reached 52.9 percent in April 2011, falling from 53.4 percent in March, said the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).

The new orders sub-index, an effective gauge of domestic demand, stood at 53.8 percent in April, down from 55.2 percent in March. The input prices sub-index, a measure of how much factories pay for raw materials and other intermediary goods, slowed to 66.2 percent from 68.3 percent in March.

The data showed an "appropriate adjustment" in growth as the country rebalances the economy, said the CFLP.

The drop is in line with the lackluster growth in domestic demand and may add to possibilities of a macroeconomic slowdown, said Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council.

"It shows that government measures to rein in inflation are taking root," said Cai Jin, Vice President of the CFLP. "But domestic demands turned tepid in part due to strained market liquidity."

April's PMI still marked the 26th straight month in which the index was above the boom-and-bust line of 50 percent. A reading above 50 percent indicates economic expansion.