HANOI, March 1 (Xinhua/APP): The Vietnamese manufacturing sector remained in recovery mode in February, seeing growth accelerate further, the London-based information provider IHS Markit said in a report on Tuesday.
The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ticked up to 54.3 in February, up from 53.7 in January, signaling a pick-up in growth for the fourth month running. Moreover, business conditions have now improved in each of the past five months following the disruption caused by the Delta wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, said the report.
The improving growth momentum overall was again supported by stronger customer demand. New orders increased sharply and the rate of expansion quickened to a 10-month high. Improving international demand was also reported in February, helping lead to another marked rise in exports.
Hopes of continued new order growth should the COVID-19 pandemic be brought under control supported optimism in the year-ahead outlook for production, with more than half of respondents expecting output to increase over the coming year, according to the report.
“It’s not all good news; however, as supply constraints restrict output growth. Firms are still having difficulty enticing workers back to factories in large enough numbers to keep on top of workloads, while raw materials remain scarce. Manufacturers will therefore be hoping that these constraints ease in the months ahead and unleashing production in the process,” Andrew Harker, economics director at IHS Markit, commented on the survey results.
A PMI reading above 50 indicates an expansion of the manufacturing sector, below 50 a contraction, while 50 indicates no change.
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