Growth in ASEAN’s manufacturing sector accelerated in January on the back of a rebound in new orders following two months of contraction, the S&P Global ASEAN Manufacturing PMI™ showed on 1 February.
The improvement in conditions in the manufacturing sector in ASEAN accelerated in January, with the headline PMI rising from 50.3 in December to a three-month high of 51.0 in January.
ASEAN firms in the survey increased purchases of inputs to meet growing demand at the quickest rate for three months.
Four of the seven ASEAN nations in the S&P Global survey registered growth across their manufacturing sector in January, up from three in December. Thailand’s manufacturers reported the sharpest improvement in business conditions in January, overtaking the Philippines and topping the rankings for the first time in 17 months. The rate of Thai manufacturing sector growth quickened to the second-fastest since the survey began in December 2015, after September 2022. In the Philippines, the headline index hit a seven-month high of 53.5, signalling a solid improvement in operating conditions, S&P Global said.
Overall, manufacturing conditions across ASEAN improved for the sixteenth consecutive month in January, with the latest uptick the fastest in three months, driven by a stronger upturn in production and a fresh rise in new orders, according to S&P Global.
“With supply-side pressures easing, and inflation rates below their post-pandemic averages, this could support further improvements in business conditions in the months ahead,” Maryam Baluch, Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said, commenting on the ASEAN Manufacturing PMI data.