UK and Eurozone manufacturing growth shows signs of slowdown after stellar 2017

Manufacturing growth in the Eurozone fell to a 13-month low on the IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index over April, as the manufacturing big beasts of Germany, Holland and Italy registered a slowdown in order growth.

PMI data released in the same week for the UK shows manufacturing momentum dropped to a 17-month low.

The April Eurozone Manufacturing PMI was 56.2, a drop of 0.4 of a point from March - remaining a solid rate of factory order expansion though growth rates are dragged down by a drop in new purchase orders.

France and Ireland both secured increases in manufacturing growth, but the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy all registered unchanged or falling order growth rates.

Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said: “The manufacturing sector saw growth weaken further at the start of the second quarter, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that the overall pace of expansion remains encouragingly solid.

“Although growth has slowed markedly compared to the start of the year, December had seen the best performance in over 20 years of survey data collection, with factory activity clearly surging at an unsustainable rate. Since then, supply constraints – including raw material scarcities, supplier delivery delays and skill shortages – have constrained production. Strikes, bad weather and unusually high levels of illness have also plagued businesses.”

The Eurozome PMI is based on a survey panel of 3000 manufacturers.