Austria: Manufacturing PMI drops in February, but remains in expansionary territory
Manufacturing operating conditions improved at a softer clip in February, with the Unicredit Bank Austria Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropping to 58.4 from 61.5 in January. As such, the index remained north of the neutral 50-threshold that separates expansion from contraction in business conditions compared to the prior month.
The headline cooling came on the back of Covid-19-related constraints. Output growth slowed in the month due to staff absences, linked to Omicron and softer order book growth. This was mainly a domestic issue, as new export orders rose at a faster rate than overall demand. Backlogs of work, meanwhile, increased amid supply and capacity constraints, despite strong job creation. Turning to prices, costs of materials, energy and transport drove another uptick in input costs. However, the pace of input and output inflation eased.