The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the month of January 2023 was 50.5, 10.3% lower than the previous month of December 2022 PMI of 56.3 and compared to January 2022 with a PMI of 56 is 9.8% lower. For context the PMI is a measure of the economic course the manufacturing sector experiences where a value of 50 on the PMI indicates no change, a value above 50 indicates growth, and a value below 50 indicates a contraction. The 50.5 PMI value of January 2023 thus indicates minimal growth, and almost no change, for the manufacturing sector.
Of the subcategories for the PMI 4 of them obtained values over 50 in January 2023, these subcategories with their PMI scores and their year over year change are: Own Inventories (60; 24.2%), Employment (55; 3.2%), Prices Paid (55, -31.3%), and Suppliers Delivery (52.5; -17.1%). The other 5 remaining subcategories obtained values below 50, these subcategories with their PMI scores and their year over year change are: Clients Inventories (27.5; 10%), New Orders (40; -33.3%), Backlog (42.5; -27.1%), Production (45; -18.2%), and General (45; -6.8%). Notably, the Export Orders subcategory did not get a PMI value for January 2023 as of writing and as such was not included with the other subcategories.
Alongside the survey used to measure the PMI a series of supplemental questions were included to discover the challenges the manufacturing sector encountered. The most encountered challenges by the manufacturing sector in January 2023 were the Shortage of raw material (38%), Employment (31%), Costs (15%), and Supply chain logistics (15%). Other challenges the manufacturing sector encountered to a lesser extent were the Lead times (8%), Maintenance and repair of machinery and equipment (8%), Absenteeism (8%), Unreliable utilities (8%), and High energy costs (8%).
