Manufacturing Remains in Deep Contraction in Europe

Manufacturing fell in contraction in many European countries last year, as the trade war between US and China hurt manufacturing globally. In some countries it even fell into deep recession, like in Germany. Manufacturing started to come out of contraction at the end of last year and the beginning of this one, but the spread of coronavirus has turned the recession back again. Below are the manufacturing reports from the Eurozone:

Eurozone Manufacturing Report

• March final manufacturing PMI 44.5 vs 44.7 expected
• February prelim manufacturing at 44.8 points

Spanish Manufacturing Report

• March final manufacturing PMI 45.7 vs 44.0 expected
• February prelim manufacturing at 50.4 points

Italian Manufacturing Report

• March manufacturing PMI 40.3 points vs 41.0 expected
• February manufacturing at 48.7 points

French Manufacturing Report

• March final manufacturing PMI 43.2 vs 42.9 prelim
• February manufacturing at 42.9 points

German Manufacturing Report

• March final manufacturing PMI 45.4 vs 45.6 expected
• March prelim manufacturing at 45.7 points

UK Manufacturing Report

• March final manufacturing PMI 47.8 vs 47.1 expected
• March prelim manufacturing at 48.0 points

As seen from the manufacturing report above, this sector has fallen into deep contraction once again in all countries. Spain was holding its head above water in February, but in March things have deteriorated as all of Europe went into shutdown. The virus hasn’t reached the peak yet in Europe, so I expect the situation to get worse in April.