* Dalian iron ore up as much as 1.5%
* China's official manufacturing PMI rose to 52 in March
* Construction rebar down 4% in Q1, HRC down 8.9% (Adds details; Updates with closing prices)
BEIJING, March 31 (Reuters) - Chinese iron ore futures picked up on Tuesday, fuelled by 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. iron ore stockpiles at China's ports dropped for a second straight week and fell to 121.25 million tonnes as of Mar. 27, the lowest level in nearly eight months. SH-TOT-IRONINV
That helped the Dalian Commodity Exchange's most-traded May iron ore futures contract DCIOcv1 gain as much as 1.5%, before ending 0.9% up at 650.5 yuan ($91.77) per tonne.
However, the statistics bureau said it is still uncertain whether the domestic economy has picked up after the coronavirus hit.
"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 globally spreading epidemic had brought new challenges to the country's economy.
Construction steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 , for May delivery, fell 4% in the first quarter of 2020. It closed down 0.15% at 3,406 yuan per tonne on Tuesday.
Hot-rolled coil futures SHHCcv1 also edged down 0.1% to 3,252 yuan per tonne. It plunged 8.9% in the first three months of this year.
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 1.2% to 1,261 yuan per tonne, while Dalian coke DCJcv1 is down 0.7% to 1,764 yuan per tonne.
* Shanghai stainless steel futures SHSScv1 , for June delivery, rose 0.3% to 11,980 yuan per tonne.
* Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) expects vehicle sales in China to quadruple in March, pointing to a recovery following the coronavirus pandemic. 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)