Austia's Manufacturing Downturn Continues In March

Austria's manufacturing activity deteriorated further in February amid sustained declines in output and new orders, data produced by S&P Global showed on Tuesday.

The UniCredit Bank Austria Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 42.2 in March from 43.0 in February. Any score below 50 indicates contraction in the sector.

New orders fell at the fastest pace in this year so far, due to a general lack of appetite for investment and full warehouses of customers. New export demand also remained very weak, especially in the German market.

Meanwhile, output declined at the slowest pace since April last year, though the decrease was solid overall.

A further decrease was seen in factory employment in March amid underutilised capacity and efforts to cut costs. The rate of job shedding was the quickest since May 2020.

Goods producers also reduced their purchasing activity as they looked to draw down stocks in line with weaker demand.

On the price front, input price inflation accelerated slightly in March, while output charges declined more quickly due to the influence of competition for new work and pressure from customers to pass through lower input costs.

Despite current conditions remaining challenging, there was growing optimism among goods producers towards future business conditions, amid hopes of rate cuts and a turnaround in economic conditions in the next 12 months.

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