According to Markit, “The global manufacturing sector ended 2015 on a disappointing note, with the rates of expansion in production and new orders both slowing in December. At 50.9, down from 51.2 in November, the J.P.Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI …fell to a three-month low. The average PMI reading over 2015 as a whole was below those registered in both of the prior two years.”
The new sub-sector data “covering consumer, intermediate and investment goods producers…signalled that the slowdown highlighted by the headline Global Manufacturing PMI during
December mainly reflected weaker expansion at investment goods producers and a further contraction in the intermediate goods sector. In contrast, growth accelerated slightly at consumer goods producers.”
Much of the deterioration is, apparently down to emerging markets weaknesses. “The end of 2015 saw the downturn in emerging market manufacturing continue, with PMI indices for China,
India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia all in sub-50.0 contraction territory. Although the expansion in developed nations continued, growth slowed (on average) to an eight-month low.”
Note: I covered Manufacturing PMIs for BRIC economies in an earlier post here:
http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2016/01/4116-bric-manufacturing-pmis-december.htmlYou can see the ‘weighting’ effect in the chart here based on quarterly data:
And a summary table for Global Manufacturing PMI from Markit here:
Per Markit:
- Growth rates fell to a 38-month low in the US
- Growth eased to three-month low in the UK,
- Growth held steady in Japan, and
- Growth “accelerated to a 20-month high in the euro area.”
Net outrun: global manufacturing has ended 2015 an inch closer to zero growth / stagnation point and certainly nowhere near the levels of growth consistent with amplification in global economic growth rates forward.
