Good manufacturing news from the Institute for Supply Management for April!
“The PMI registered 54.8 percent, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from March’s reading of 53.4 percent, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the 33rd consecutive month.”
Some excerpts from the full report:
‘Of the 18 manufacturing industries, 16 are reporting growth in April, in the following order: Furniture & Related Products; Printing & Related Support Activities; Machinery; Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Primary Metals; Paper Products; Transportation Equipment; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; Plastics & Rubber Products; Apparel, Leather & Allied Products; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Chemical Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Computer & Electronic Products; and Petroleum & Coal Products. The only industry reporting contraction in April is Wood Products.”
“WHAT RESPONDENTS ARE SAYING …
- “We expect our production levels to remain at the current level or increase over the next quarter.” (Chemical Products)
- “In general, demand remains strong for products, and we [are experiencing] more supply disruptions now than four to five months ago.” (Machinery)
- “The economy was off to a good start through the first quarter, but the European issues keep coming up as well as the recent disappointing jobs report. It appears that some of the early gains may be temporary.” (Fabricated Metal Products)
- “Warm weather in Midwest appears to have helped soft drink sales.” (Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products)
- “Positive increase in volume of sales and orders, and slight uptick in inventories, indicate the overall outlook remains robust through summer at least.” (Miscellaneous Manufacturing)
- “Sales are slowing.” (Computer & Electronic Products)
- “Business conditions on a national scale have a very positive outlook for the commercial metals we provide. At this point, we have outperformed each quarter’s goal and anticipate a strong finish.” (Primary Metals)
- “Strong demand [compared to] previous year.” (Plastics & Rubber Products)
- “Business indicators suggest a stronger stability in overall environment. Production and orders are stable.” (Transportation Equipment)
- “Business conditions continue to improve.” (Furniture & Related Products)”
Here is the summary table from the full report:
| MANUFACTURING AT A GLANCE APRIL 2012 |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Series Index Apr |
Series Index Mar |
Percentage Point Change |
Direction | Rate of Change |
Trend* (Months) |
| PMI | 54.8 | 53.4 | +1.4 | Growing | Faster | 33 |
| New Orders | 58.2 | 54.5 | +3.7 | Growing | Faster | 36 |
| Production | 61.0 | 58.3 | +2.7 | Growing | Faster | 35 |
| Employment | 57.3 | 56.1 | +1.2 | Growing | Faster | 31 |
| Supplier Deliveries | 49.2 | 48.0 | +1.2 | Faster | Slower | 3 |
| Inventories | 48.5 | 50.0 | -1.5 | Contracting | From Unchanged | 1 |
| Customers’ Inventories | 45.5 | 44.5 | +1.0 | Too Low | Faster | 5 |
| Prices | 61.0 | 61.0 | 0.0 | Increasing | Same | 4 |
| Backlog of Orders | 49.5 | 52.5 | -3.0 | Contracting | From Growing | 1 |
| Exports | 59.0 | 54.0 | +5.0 | Growing | Faster | 6 |
| Imports | 53.5 | 53.5 | 0.0 | Growing | Same | 5 |
| OVERALL ECONOMY | Growing | Faster | 35 | |||
| Manufacturing Sector | Growing | Faster | 33 | |||
*Number of months moving in current direction.
It looks like the US manufacturing is remaining strong despite the slowing of the UK and Eurozone manufacturing.
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