Asean manufacturers report declines in PMI data

KUALA LUMPUR: Asean manufacturers reported their worst month on record in March, with operating conditions deteriorated at the sharpest pace since the survey began in July 2012 amid record declines of output, new orders, inventories and employment, according to latest IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data.

The headline PMI fell from 50.2 in February to 43.4 in March, to signal a renewed deterioration in the health of the Asean manufacturing sector.

Moreover, the figure was the lowest in the survey’s near eightyear history and indicative of a marked downturn.

“All of the survey indicators hit a record low, with substantial rates of decline reported for output and total new orders.

“Asean manufacturers felt the full force of the coronavirus pandemic in March with the headline PMI dropped to the lowest in the survey’s near eight-year history, amid record contractions of output, new orders, inventories and employment, economist Lewis Cooper said in a statement.

Notably, March was the first time on record that all of the seven constituent countries posted a deterioration in the health of their respective manufacturing sectors simultaneously, he said.

Sentiment was the lowest since the series began in mid2012, although firms still remain, on average, optimistic that output will increase over the next 12 months.

As for Malaysia, the downturn in the sector continued during March, with operating conditions deteriorating at the steepest rate since September 2019, but the decline was only mild overall.

The headline IHS Markit Malaysia PMI fell to 48.4 in March, from 48.5 in February, signalling a further drop in momentum across the Malaysian goods-producing sector.

The survey’s output index fell to its lowest level since June 2016 during March, signalling a sharp slowdown in manufacturing production in Malaysia.

According to firms, demandand supply-side factors adversely impacted output volumes.

Among the other Asean nations; Singapore also felt the downturn, with the headline figure slipping a record 18.1 points from February to 27.7, the lowest in the series near eightyear history, the Philippines’ March PMI registered with the headline index (39.7) posting below the 50.0 no-change marks for the first time since the survey began January 2016.

Elsewhere, Vietnam recorded a back-to-back contraction, with the headline index falling to the lowest on record at 41.9 in March, signalling a steep decline in the health of the manufacturing sector.

Overall, March highlighted the worst performance of the Asean manufacturing sector on record, as repercussions from the Covid-19 pandemic are realised and indeed it is likely that they will be felt for several months to come, if not longer, the firm said. — Bernama