Manufacturing activity in the Euro Zone advanced last month amid easening of supply chain bottleneck. However, the improvement was not evenly spread across all member countries and factories faced with high inflationary pressure.
IHS Markit’s final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a five-month high of 58.7 in January from December’s 58.0, below an initial “flash” estimate of 59.0.
An index measuring outputs showed healthy economic recovery jumping to 55.4 from 53.8.
“Euro zone manufacturers appear to be weathering the Omicron storm better than prior COVID-19 waves so far, with firms reporting the largest production and order book improvements for four months in January,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit.
“The improvement is by no means evenly spread across the euro zone, however, with resurgent growth in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria contrasting with slowdowns in Italy, Spain and Greece and near-stalled production in France.”
