* Dalian iron ore up as much as 1.2% in early trade
* Spot 62% iron ore fell to $84.5 per tonne on Monday
* China's official manufacturing PMI rose to 52 in March
BEIJING, March 31 (Reuters) - Chinese iron ore futures picked up in early trade on Tuesday, rising more than 1% on demand hopes after the world's second-biggest economy reported an unexpected growth in its factory activities in March.
China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) jumped to 52 this month from a record low in February, beating analysts' expectations of 45.0, the National Bureau of Statistics said. helped the Dalian Commodity Exchange's most-traded May iron ore futures contract DCIOcv1 gain as much as 1.2% to 653 yuan ($92.08) per tonne.
Steel futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange also clawed back from Monday's loss, with construction rebar SRBcv1 edging down 0.03% to 3,410 yuan per tonne while hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 rose 0.5% to 3,273 yuan per tonne, as of 0220 GMT.
But the statistics bureau warned the pick-up in PMI this month does not suggest the economy has returned to normal.
"The companies' production resumption had not yet returned to the level before the coronavirus," the statistics bureau said in a statement along with the data, adding that the spreading epidemic overseas had brought new challenges to the country's economy.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot prices of the benchmark 62% iron-content ore, as tracked by SteelHome consultancy SH-CCN-IRNOR62 , fell for the third straight session to $84.5 per tonne on Monday.
* Other steelmaking ingredients were mixed, with Dalian coking coal DJMcv1 , for May delivery, gaining 0.8% to 1,256 yuan per tonne, while Dalian coke DCJcv1 inched down 0.1% to 1,774 yuan per tonne.
* Shanghai stainless steel futures SHSScv1 , for June delivery, rose 0.3% to 11,980 yuan per tonne.
* China's Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday the country would step up prevention and control of asymptomatic coronavirus cases and strengthen screening, quarantine and treatment. Russian steelmaker Severstal CHMF.MM said on Monday that one of its employees was confirmed to have the coronavirus. = 7.0913 Chinese yuan renminbi)