TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
US manufacturing retreats from 14-year high in September
Change Size
US exports decreased to their slowest level in 10 months while companies complained of disruption from tariffs, rising prices, squeezed profits and slim inventories (Shutterstock/File)
T
he US manufacturing sector slowed last month, easing off a 14-year high in August as materials prices rose while orders, deliveries and inventories decreased, according to an industry survey Monday.
Exports decreased to their slowest level in 10 months while companies complained of disruption from tariffs, rising prices, squeezed profits and slim inventories, the Institute for Supply Management said in its monthly report.
But ISM's closely-watched Purchasing Managers Index for US manufacturing remained high, and showed the sector continued to expand for the 113th month in a row.
The PMI fell to a score of 59.8 percent, down from 61.3 percent in the prior month. Economists had been expecting a slightly smaller decline.
The survey showed 15 of 18 industries reported growth, with only primary metals -- a sector benefiting from tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump -- reporting contraction.
"Export orders expanded, but four major industries are no longer contributing," Timothy Fiore, chair of ISM's manufacturing survey committee, said in a statement.
"Demand remains robust, but employment resources and supply chains continue to struggle, but to a lesser degree."
The index for new orders fell 3.3 points to 61.8 percent, and supplier deliveries fell 3.4 points to 61.1 percent.
Meanwhile the price index pointed to the 31st consecutive month of higher costs for raw materials.
Comments from survey respondents expressed widespread discomfort with Trump's trade fight with China.
"The market is in a state of chaos with the latest round of tariffs," one respondent in computers and electronics said.
"As an electronics original equipment manufacturer, our component prices have been impacted almost across the board."
A primary metals business said orders were coming in "but from a limited number of customers."
"The future looks very promising," the respondent said.
Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said the PMI remained elevated -- and could see a bump in October due to Sunday night's announcement of success in talks revise the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"But the overall trend in manufacturing surveys in the US and elsewhere is peaking, and substantial, sustained, further gains are unlikely," he said in a research note.
