Manufacturing PMI falls at record pace

CLOUDY OUTLOOK: Should the pandemic persist in the second half of the year, it would deal a heavy blow to Taiwan’s export-dependent economy, the CIER said

Taipei Times
Date: May 05, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month tumbled to 47.6, falling at the fastest pace in the survey’s history, as the COVID-19 pandemic diminished economic activity, but biotech and electronics suppliers benefited, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

Last month’s figure ended six straight months of increases and signaled a substantial deterioration in the health of the nation’s manufacturing sector, with companies unprecedentedly anxious about the future, it said.

PMI readings aim to capture the pulse of manufacturing activity, with values larger than 50 indicating an expansion and those lower than the threshold suggesting a contraction.“The industry has emerged from concerns over supply chain disruptions after China resumed manufacturing activity, but fears loom over languid demand, if the eurozone, the US and some Asian markets remain closed to combat the virus,” CIER vice president Wang Jiann-chyuan (王健全) told an online news conference. 
[FULL  STORY]