Xinhua, London :
Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) held steady at June’s seven-month low of 51. 8, as ongoing expansion was partly offset by a deeper downturn by French manufacturers, Markit reported Friday.
The index is lower than 51.9 of the flash estimate, indicating lackluster growth by eurozone manufacturers.
Eurozone manufacturers reported further growth of output, new orders and new exports. However, the rates of expansion all remained weaker than the highs seen at the start of the year.
“The final manufacturing PMI for the euro area for July came in slightly below the flash estimate, most likely reflecting growing concerns following the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine towards the end of the month,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.
“The weakness of demand in turn meant companies were generally unable to raise prices for their goods without fear of losing sales,” said Williamson.
The performance disparity between Germany and France also widened, with the gap between the German and French PMI readings the greatest since February, said the London-based survey compiler.
Besides, Ireland registered the sharpest rate of expansion in July followed by Spain, where the rate of growth stayed close to June’s seven-year record.
“The plight of the French manufacturing sector is the greatest concern, where output declined at the fastest rate since December, ” said Williamson.
Experts believed the situation in the eurozone has clearly worsened from the promising signs of economic revival seen earlier in the year.
“The manufacturing sector is showing signs of stalling, inflation is running at just 0.4 percent and the tensions with Russia are threatening to lead a further retrenchment of spending and investment by businesses and households,” said Williamson.
Markit is a global diversified provider of financial information services. Eurozone manufacturing PMI was produced by Markit and was based on original survey data collected from a representative panel of around 3,000 manufacturing firms.
