Austria Manufacturing Sector Contraction Deepens

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The Unicredit Bank Austria Manufacturing PMI came in at 42.2 in March 2024, marking the 20th consecutive month of contraction and compared to 43 in the previous month.

New orders experienced its sharpest decline this year, reversing the trend of slowing growth seen over the past five months.

Moreover, the rate of job shedding increased to the quickest pace since May 2020 amid reports of underutilized capacity and cost-cutting efforts.

Meanwhile, output declined at slower rate, the weakest since April 2023, although the drop remained substantial overall, with many firms relying on backlogs of work to sustain output volumes.

On the price front, input costs continued to fall, consistent with the trend observed over the past thirteen months.

Overall, sentiment further improved to its highest level since February 2022, as firms anticipating an increase in output over the next twelve months and expressed hopes for an economic turnaround and interest rate cuts.

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