(Reuters) – The slowdown in manufacturing activity in the euro zone deepened in May as demand fell despite factory prices falling for the first time since September 2020, final results show. the survey of purchasing managers released Thursday by S&P Global/Hamburg Commercial Bank.
The sector index came out at 44.8, against 45.8 a month earlier and 44.6 in the first estimate.
An index measuring production fell to 46.4, a six-month low, after 48.5 the previous month.
“Weak demand in the manufacturing sector, which has become increasingly evident since the start of the year with falling PMI indices, has now led companies surveyed to cut production for the second month in a row,” said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.
“The drop in internal and external new orders indicates that the weakness in production is likely to persist for several more months,” he added.
The fall in demand comes as factory prices fell amid the fastest pace of falling production costs since February 2016. The producer price index came in at 49.0 in May from 51. .6 in April.
(Report Jonathan Cable; Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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