UK PMI Manufacturing was finalized at 57.3 in January, slightly down from December’s 57.9. Markit said production rose at fastest rate in six months. new order growth slowed despite mild uptick in new export businesses. Input cost and output price inflation eased.
Rob Dobson, Director at IHS Markit, said: “UK manufacturing made a solid start to 2022, showing encouraging resilience on the face of the Omicron wave, with growth of output accelerating as companies reported fewer supply delays. Causes for concern remain, however, as new orders growth slowed, exports barely rose, staff absenteeism remained high and manufacturers’ ongoing caution regarding supply chain disruptions led to the beefing up of safety stocks
“There was some positive news on the supply chains front. Although pressure on vendors remains severe, and still sufficient to stymie output growth and cause difficulty in obtaining required inputs, supplier lead times lengthened to the lowest degree since November 2020 to suggest that the current period of abnormal stress has hopefully passed its peak, despite the surge in cases linked to Omicron. This also lessened the upward pressure on prices, with input costs and output charges both rising at less elevated rates in January.”
