According to data released by Markit, Czech manufacturing PMI fell for the third straight month from 54.3 in March to 53.6 in April. The PMI was at its lowest level since December 2014 and showed that Czech manufacturing economy continued to lose momentum at the start of the second quarter.
April’s fall in the PMI reflected weaker growth of output, new orders and stocks of purchases. The rates of expansion in both production and new business eased to below their long-run survey averages. Notably, new export orders rose only marginally and at the weakest pace since they started expanding again back in mid-2013.
The main positive finding was the rate of job creation which remained robust. Manufacturing employment extended the current sequence of job creation to a survey-record three years. Moreover, the rate of growth accelerated since March.
“The first batch of PMI data for the second quarter provides further evidence that growth of the Czech manufacturing sector has moderated since the start of the year. Nevertheless, the PMI was still above its long-run trend level of 52.9, jobs growth remained solid and backlogs continued to grow.” notes Trevor Balchin, senior economist at Markit.
