MADRID, 1 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish factory activity in February recorded enough improvement to return the manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) to expansionary territory for the first time since March 2023, according to S
In the second month of 2024, Spain’s manufacturing PMI reached 51.5 points, compared to 49.2 in the previous month, which represents the highest level in twenty months and the first positive reading, above the threshold of 50 points, from the index since March 2023.
Both production and new orders increased in February, ending their respective sequences of nine and ten months of declines. However, growth was predominantly driven by the domestic market, as new export orders continued to fall in February, albeit at a slower pace.
Likewise, jobs were created in the sector to reinforce productive capacity at a time of greater confidence in the future, since the degree of optimism of companies was the best recorded since February 2022, as they expect a reactivation of the sales and demand over the next twelve months.
For its part, the conflict in the Red Sea and the disruptions associated with maritime routes through the Suez Canal caused the greatest lengthening of delivery times in almost a year and a half, which would have caused price increases, according to some companies. surveyed.
In this sense, the latest data showed that overall input costs increased in February, the first increase in a year. However, competitive pressures and efforts to capture new orders caused sales prices to decline again in February, albeit at the weakest rate since August 2023.
“The Spanish manufacturing sector seems to be emerging from its downward trend,” said Jonas Feldhusen, junior economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.
