Turkiye's biz activity moderates as PMI falls below threshold in April

The renewed moderation of business conditions in part reflected a return to slowing output in April. Production eased for the first time in three months amid softening demand conditions.

Demand was impacted by rising prices and high interest rates, with new orders softening for the tenth month running. New business from abroad also moderated, again linked to price increases, but to a lesser extent than total new orders.

Input costs continued to rise sharply amid currency weakness and higher prices for raw materials and logistics. The rate of inflation eased to a four-month low, however, which was also the case with regards to selling prices.

In spite of the weakness in new orders and output, firms continued to expand their purchasing activity. Input buying rose for the third month running, feeding through to higher stocks of purchases for the first time in almost two years. Meanwhile, stocks of finished goods also accumulated, reflecting the recent spell of production growth at a time of moderating new orders.

Employment was broadly unchanged following slowdowns in each of the previous two months. Some respondents mentioned the need for extra staff, but others reported that finding suitable workers had proved challenging.

"The recent spell of output growth was unable to be sustained at a time of moderating new orders and came to an end in April. Firms will be hoping that demand can pick up soon and feed through to sustainable improvements in production. There was some easing of inflation over the month to the lowest in the year so far, but manufacturers are still having to contend with rapid price increases which is hampering their ability to secure new business both at home and abroad," said Andrew Harker, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DP)