bne IntelliNews – Turkish manufacturing continues to show signs of recovery after the earthquake shown by the April PMI

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Turkish manufacturing continued to show signs of recovery from the February earthquake disaster in April, with production, new orders and exports expanding for the second month in a row, according to the Istanbul Chamber of Industry’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

The headline PMI registered 51.5 in April, up from 50.9 in March and above the 50.0 unchanged mark for the fourth consecutive month.

Companies have expanded their purchasing activity, but employment has not changed broadly because retirements linked to the new early retirement law have limited companies’ ability to increase workforce numbers.

Meanwhile, input prices continued to rise sharply in April amid rising raw material costs and a weaker currency, but inflation eased to the slowest rate of the year so far, with output prices rising at the lowest rate since last August.

Commenting on the PMI survey data, Andrew Harker, director of economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The recovery in Turkey’s manufacturing sector gathered momentum in April, with gains in new orders, consolidating production and prompting a renewed increase in buying activity.

“Companies would also have liked to see an increase in hiring, but a number of retirements have made achieving this a challenge.

“The February earthquake continued to impact the sector, most notably by affecting supply chains and the ability of companies to secure the materials they need. As such, backlogs have begun to build up after a sustained period of decline.”

Overall, the rate of improvement in the health of Turkey’s manufacturing sector was the most marked since December 2021, S&P Global noted.

However, the disruption caused by the earthquake disaster increased the backlog for the first time in 14 months. The deadline for obtaining materials has been extended for the fourth consecutive month.

S&P added that delivery delays prevented stock purchases from rising despite the first expansion in purchasing activity in nearly a year and a half as manufacturers responded to higher workloads.

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