The downturn continues to be fuelled by a decreasing demand for goods. Total inflows of new work have now fallen for the fifth consecutive month, with the rate of contraction being the quickest since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. New orders in manufacturing also continued their sharp decline, albeit at the weakest rate in the last three months.
Factory gate charges dropped for the fourth month in a row, at the joint-quickest pace since September 2009. This comes as firms witness their pricing power weakening, with average output charges rising at the slowest rate since February 2021, as per S&P Global.
On the other side of the ledger, input cost inflation for businesses ticked up for the second month in a row, reaching the quickest rate since May, albeit still below the historical series average.
Backlogs in businesses’ order books continued to shrink, speeding up to the quickest rate of depletion since May 2020. This has led to a pessimistic outlook for future business activity, sinking to its lowest point since November last year.
In terms of employment, the data shows a slight decline towards the end of the third quarter. This puts an end to a sequence of continuous job creation that had been in effect since January 2021.
ALCHEMPro News Desk (DP)
Receive daily prices and market insights straight to your inbox. Subscribe to AlchemPro Weekly!
marketing@alchempro.com
