Global mfg sector losing steam

Washington Manufacturers around the world are contending with weakening demand as the economic outlook for the industry darkens, the media reported. Factories in the US and across the Eurozone reported a decline in new orders for manufactured goods in May as they worked through their backlog of orders, CNN reported citing recent business surveys released by data firm S&P Global.

Among manufacturers in the Eurozone, production, new orders and backlogs all fell in May as the sector contracted at a faster pace that month, according to S&P Global figures.

The 20-nation currency area’s industrial production fell sharply in March, mostly due to a plunge in Ireland. The indicator measures the output of manufacturers, miners, and utility companies, CNN reported.

Business conditions in China’s manufacturing industry, the largest in the world, improved in May, according to the Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index.

That was a temporary sigh of relief for investors fearing that growth is stalling in the world’s second-largest economy, but recent data showed that exports from China 7.5 per cent in May from a year earlier.

Sluggish Factory Output

• Only breather was from China
• Second-largest economy clocks recovery in mfg sector
• Global mfg outlook remains bleak
• New export orders declining