Recovery,

A year over in the COVID-afflicted world, global manufacturing production is on its path to recovery in the first quarter of 2021, according to the latest United Nations Industrial Development Organization quarterly manufacturing report. The speed of reco

chemical products seen remarkable growth in the first quarter of 2021. But in the same period, in a year-over-year comparison, textiles, wearing apparel, and coke and refined petroleum products witnessed declines in some country groups.

This 2021, UNIDO continued, global manufacturing projections would still see recovery, though the speed would also vary across the regions.

The agency forecasted that the manufacturing value added (MVA) in the industrialized economies would grow by 7.2% in 2021. United States is expected to lead the group, followed by Slovakia and France.

Whereas, for the MVA in European industrialized economies, recovery is expected with a growth rate of 5.7%. In the Eastern Asian industrialized countries, the projected growth is 6.2%.

Meanwhile, according to the Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) of J.P. Morgan and IHS Markit, outputs continued to rise in April. Growth was still visible in manufacturing outputs from May to July, though at a slower rate. PMIs during the said months also improved, but June and July saw a slow pace.

By August, however, the report showed that the upturn in global manufacturing “lost further momentum” as output growth rates decelerated in several major markets.

With the above neutral mark of 51.9 as the output rate in August, manufacturing production climbed for the fourteenth successive month. But during that sequence, last month’s growth rate of output eased to its weakest.

PMI in August fell to a six-month low of 54.1. Growth was still present in nations including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, India, South Korea, and Brazil. China, Russia, and Mexico were among the countries that registered a sub-50 reading.

In the Philippines, the respective PMIs for June and July were at 50.8 and 50.4, according to IHS Markit. While July recorded an uptick, it contrasted with the declines during April and May.

By August, the country’s PMI plunged at a 15-month low of 46.4, as the Enhanced Community Quarantine was imposed in Metro Manila earlier in August. Production volumes also fell for the fifth month in a row.

“Factories and their clients in the Metro Manila area once again paused their production lines in a bid to curb the spread of the new delta variant. Consequently, all five of the PMI components worsened, or fell deeper into contraction territory,” explained Shreeya Patel, an economist at IHS Markit, in a statement.

On a brighter note, Ms. Patel continued, the expectations of firms towards the outlook remained optimistic, hoping that the recent downturn is temporary. But some firms were still uncertain over the longer-term implications of COVID-19.

“Vaccinations remain paramount to controlling the spread of the disease and the associated variants. Policy makers have once again reiterated the importance of inoculating the population, which it endeavors to do by early next year. Firms will hope shocks to the supply of vaccines are brought under control to prevent this being pushed back again,” she said.