Asia’s factories sustain expansion but supply squeeze dims outlook
01 Jun 2021
Asia’s factory activity continued to expand in May thanks to an ongoing recovery in global demand, surveys showed today, though rising raw material costs and supply chain constraints clouded the outlook.
A spike in Covid-19 infections in some countries could disrupt supply chains, posing a headache for manufacturers and weighing on Asia’s export-driven recovery, analysts say.
Japan and South Korea saw expansions in factory activity moderate in May, purchasing managers’ indexes (PMI) showed today, underscoring the fragile nature of their recoveries.
“A spread of new variants is already having a negative impact on supply chains. If this situation persists, it would hit Asian manufacturers that had been scrambling to diversify supply chains out of China,“ said Toru Nishihama, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
“Asia‘s recovery has been driven more by external than domestic demand. If companies have trouble exporting enough goods, that bodes ill for the region’s economies,“ he said.
China’s factory activity expanded at the fastest pace this year in May on solid demand at home and overseas, though sharp rises in input prices and strains in supply chains crimped some firms’ production, a survey showed today.
The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing PMI, which focuses on smaller firms, rose to 52.0 last month, the highest since December and inching up from April’s 51.9.
The survey followed China’s official PMI on Monday, which showed factory activity in the world’s second-largest economy slowed slightly in May on surging raw material costs.
The effects of surging infections on manufacturing were most prominent in India where factory activity growth hit its lowest in 10 months, the PMI for the country showed.
Factories in Taiwan and Vietnam were so far holding up despite rising infections. Taiwan’s PMI stood at 62.0 in May, slowing from April but remaining well above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction.
Vietnam’s PMI also stayed above 50 at 53.1 in May, though slowing from 54.7 in April.
Separate data released today showed Japanese firms cut spending on plant and equipment for the fourth consecutive quarter in January-March, as the economy struggles to shake off the drag from the coronavirus pandemic.
South Korea’s PMI stood at 53.7 in May, slowing from April but extending growth into an eighth straight month although the pace of input price increases hit a 13-year high, the index showed.
Source: Reuters
