PMI Index of Russian manufacturing industries falls to 48.1 points in March - HSBC
MOSCOW. April 1 (Interfax) - Business activity in Russia's manufacturing industries was down slightly in March, HSBC said.
The headline figure - the seasonally adjusted PMI index of manufacturing industries of Russia - of HSBC Bank, which follows the development of the general market situation, fell to 48.1 points in March from 49.7 points in February 2015.
The report said that an indicator higher than 50 points signifies the growth of business activity and lower than this level signifies its decline.
"Amid a number of reports of challenging economic conditions, March's survey signaled modest reductions in output and new orders, reversing the growth seen during the preceding month. Any demand weakness seemed to primarily emanate from external sources (new export orders fell sharply during March), with the latest data suggestive of some stability in domestic markets. In contrast to intermediate and investment goods producers, manufacturers of consumer goods registered modest growth in total new business," HSBC said in a statement
"Latest data showed that backlogs of work continued to fall during March, indicative of some excess capacity in the Russian manufacturing sector. However, the degree to which backlogs fell was again much slower than January's considerable rate, and broadly in line with the survey average," the statement said.
"With tentative evidence of an unwinding of the overcapacity seen earlier in the year, employment was also cut to a smaller degree during March. Latest data indicated that the overall rate of contraction was the weakest for seven months and there was even an increase in staffing numbers seen at investment goods producers. This reflected some positive output projections amid evidence of recent tender wins." HSBC said.
"Average output charges were raised to protect margins during March, but in line with slower input price increases the rate of inflation plunged to the lowest for four months," it said.