Worldwide factory slump

CoRonAVIRUS is wreaking havoc in factories around the world.

In a string of bleak reports, research group Markit said manufacturing activity was shrinking in China, Japan and South Korea as well as in Germany, France and Italy. Even the US suffered a slowdown.

the reports came as the organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned that the outbreak could slash global growth in half and plunge many countries into recession.

‘the coronavirus Covid-19 presents the global economy with its greatest danger since the financial crisis,’ the watchdog said last night.

A key index of manufacturing activity in China, where 50 is the cut- off between growth and decline, fell from 50.1 to 40.3 last month – the lowest level since the survey began in 2004.

the snapshot underlined the damage done to the economy in China where the outbreak has killed almost 3,000 people and infected around 80,000.

It has spread to more than 60 countries, shutting shops, offices and factories as well as schools and other public areas.

Manufacturing in Japan fell at its fastest pace in nearly four years last month while a slump in activity in Italy – home to one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks outside Asia – has left it on the brink of recession.

Ben May, director at oxford Economics, said: ‘Developments over the past couple of weeks suggest that the economic disruption from coronavirus will be larger, broader, and more long-lasting than we envisaged.’