Global manufacturing ended 2008 on an exceptionally weak
footing. December PMI data pointed to series-record
contractions in output, new orders and employment as
companies continued to face weak market demand resulting
from the worldwide economic downturn and ongoing crises in
the financial and credit markets. This was most striking in the
US, where production and new work received fell at the fastest
rates in the sixty-one year ISM survey.
At 33.2 in December, the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing
PMI posted its weakest ever reading and has sunk to new
lows in each month of Q4 2008. Based on the average reading
for the headline PMI, the performance of the worldwide
manufacturing sector through 2008 is the worst for a calendar
year since 2001.
Latest data pointed to a broad-based scaling back of production
and new work received. Almost all of the national output and
new orders indexes for which December figures were available
were at their lowest or second-lowest readings in their
respective series histories.
The weakest performance was registered by Japan, whose
output and new orders indexes fell to levels unprecedented in
the histories of any of the national manufacturing surveys
included in the global manufacturing PMI.
At 28.8 in December, the Global Manufacturing Output
Index was consistent with a drop in global IP of around 12%-
15% saar. Although emerging market economies fared
comparatively better than developed economies, the downturn
also deepened further in emerging nations.
Employment fell for the fifth successive month in December,
and to the greatest extent in survey history. All of the national
manufacturing sectors recorded a drop in staffing levels, most
at series-record rates including all of the Eurozone nations,
China and the UK. The sharpest falls in employment were
signalled for Denmark, Spain, the US, Russia and the UK.
Average input prices declined in December, as oil, metals and
transportation costs fell further. The Global Manufacturing
Input Prices Index posted 31.3, its lowest ever reading. The
rate of deflation was especially marked in the US, were
purchase prices fell to the greatest extent since June 1949.
Rates of decrease in costs hit series records in the Eurozone,
Russia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Denmark. |
