EUROZONE OUTLOOK
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
EUROZONE by Chris Anderson IHS Markit’s Eurozone Manufacturing Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), fell back again in September to 58.6 from August’s 61.4. This represented the largest drop in PMI since April 2020, as supply-side constraints impacted goods production. There were strong inflationary pressures. The month saw further marked rates of expansion in production, new orders, and employment, but notable slowdowns in all three. New export sales grew at the slowest rate since January. Business confidence was slightly higher in September. The European auto market picked up again in August, to a selling rate of
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Manufacturing Outlook / October 2021
11.9 million units per year. Plug-in sales in Europe in August were up by 60 percent year-over-year, at 155,734 units, for a market share of 17 percent (8% for battery EVs, 9% for plug-in hybrid EVs). The two most popular were the VW ID.3 (8,025) and the Tesla Model 3 (7,878). The Ford Mustang Mach E sold 3,743 units. For the YTD, over 1.35 million passenger plug-in EVs were registered in Europe, again for 17 percent of the total market. The Model 3 is number one YTD, with 76,440 sales, ahead of the VW ID.3 at 44,625. It may be worthy of mention here that, in the first half of 2021, plug-ins accounted for 82.7% of the Norwegian market;
55.6% of the Icelandic; 39.9% of the Swedish; 28.3% of the Finnish and 26.8% of the Danish. Both Germany and France were over 20%. The UK PMI rolled slightly lower from 60.3 in August to 57.1 in September., a seven-month low but strongly expansionary. Production and new orders rose at the slowest rate since February, with new export business down for the first time in eight months. The manufacturing upturn slowed further, as supply chain and labor shortages hindered growth. Growth slowed in the consumer, intermediate, and investment sectors. There were upturns at medium and large-scale producers that were offset by continued downturns among smaller firms. Although there are difficulties with staff shortages and hiring of the required skills, the outlook is positive. As could be expected, some of the blame for what is going wrong with manufacturing in the UK is being put at the door of Brexit. As regards the labor shortage, this is probably a just Chris Anderson, Staff Writer conclusion. n