The recovery in the Greek manufacturing sector continued at the end of the second quarter of the year.
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Further solid expansions in output and new orders were recorded, leading to ongoing job creation and accelerated growth of purchasing activity.
On the price front, higher costs for raw materials, such as steel, led to a sharper rise in input prices, while output charges continued to increase.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Greece Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – a composite indicator designed to measure the performance of the manufacturing economy – registered at 53.5 in June, down slightly from 54.2 in May, but still signalling a solid monthly improvement in business conditions during the month.
The health of the sector has strengthened continuously since June 2017.
Manufacturing output rose for the thirteenth successive month in June, with the rate of expansion broadly unchanged from that seen in May.
Increased new orders was the main factor behind the rise in production.
Higher new orders were reported from both domestic and export markets.
Total new business increased for the eleventh month running, while new export orders have now risen in nine consecutive months.
Moreover, the rate of growth in new business from abroad was the strongest since January.
As well as increasing production, firms also used inventories to help satisfy new orders.
As a result, stocks of finished goods decreased.
Manufacturers made efforts to expand operating capacity in line with higher production requirements.
Employment continued to increase at a solid pace in June, while the rate of expansion in purchasing activity quickened to a four-month high.
Rising input buying helped result in another increase in stocks of purchases.
Increased capacity enabled firms to reduce backlogs of work for the third month running, with the rate of depletion the strongest in the year-todate.
The rate of input cost inflation accelerated for the second consecutive month in June and was the sharpest since January 2017.
Respondents noted increases in a range of raw materials, with steel most widely mentioned.
Firms were able to pass higher input costs on to customers to some extent, resulting in a sixth successive monthly increase in selling prices.
That said, the rate of inflation was only slight.
Suppliers’ delivery times lengthened again, albeit only modestly.
Some firms mentioned that transportation issues had caused delivery delays. ■