Latest data released by Markit/BME - 1 June 2020
- Prior 34.5
The preliminary release can be found here. Also little change observed in the German reading relative to the initial estimate, as factory activity mildly improved relative to April but remains highly subdued compared to historical levels. Markit notes that:
"The PMI data for May show Germany's manufacturing sector still firmly in contraction territory. Though not as ugly as April's numbers, the latest data show that business continues to be severely disrupted by the COVID-19 crisis. Even though more factories have started to resume operations after the loosening of restrictions, weak underlying demand is still a limiting factor, as evidenced by the survey's measure of new orders rebounding far less than that of output in May.
"Manufacturing production was already down 7-8% from a peak in late-2017 even before the onset of the pandemic, and now that figure looks to be in the region of 25-30%. With production as far as it is below capacity and manufacturers not expecting a full recovery anytime soon, factory job losses have continued to accelerate, led by another round of staff cuts in the particularly ravaged investment goods sector."
