By Obinna Chima
The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) improved marginally to 45.9 per cent in March 2016, compared to 45.5 per cent in the preceding month.
This implied that the manufacturing sector declined at a slower rate during the review period.
The PMI report for March 2016 released at the weekend revealed that of the 16 manufacturing sub-sectors, 12 reported decline in the review month in the following order: transportation equipment; furniture & related products; plastics and rubber products; textile, apparel, leather and footwear; printing and related support activities; nonmetallic mineral products; paper products; fabricated metal products; primary metal; computer & electronic products; applies and components and electrical equipment.
The remaining four sub-sectors however reported expansion in the following order: petroleum and coal products; food, beverage and tobacco products; cement and chemical and pharmaceutical products.
Furthermore, the report revealed that at 46.6 per cent, the production level index for manufacturing sector also declined for the third consecutive month, but at a slower rate than the preceding month. It showed that of the 16 manufacturing sub-sectors, twelve reported decline in production during the review month.
Also, the New Orders Index remained the same at 43 per cent in March 2016.
However, the index has been on the decline for the third consecutive month as 13 sub-sectors reported decrease in new orders. They included: transportation equipment; textile, apparel, leather and footwear; furniture and related products; printing and related support activities; computer and electronic products; plastics and rubber products; primary metal; nonmetallic mineral products; paper products; fabricated metal products; appliances and components; cement and electrical equipment.
But the remaining three sub-sectors reported growth in new orders as follows: petroleum & coal products; chemical & pharmaceutical products and food, beverage & tobacco products.
“At 50.6 per cent, the supplier delivery time index for manufacturing sub-sectors improved for the second consecutive month, after 12 months of worsening delivery time. Eight sub-sectors reported faster suppliers’ delivery time in the following order: plastics & rubber products; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; appliances & components; primary metal; cement; petroleum & coal products; furniture & related products and electrical equipment. The transportation equipment sub-sector reported no change.
