Turkey’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a survey of manufacturing sector managers on productivity, was at 48.1 in March, down from 52.4 in February, posting below the 50 no-change mark for the first time in three months, according to the Hürriyet Daily News.
The PMI aims to determine if managers see progress in the country’s industrial sector.
The İstanbul Chamber of Industry PMI Manufacturing Index report, prepared in cooperation with global data firm IHS Markit, indicated that output and new orders both softened, while firms scaled back purchasing activity.
“On a positive note, employment continued to increase,” the report said.
Difficulties in the sector were overwhelmingly attributed to the coronavirus outbreak, which resulted in moderation of both output and new orders, it said.
“Production softened for the first time in five months, while the easing in new business ended a two-month sequence of expansion,” it added.
“Despite slower workloads, manufacturers in Turkey continued to take on additional staff during March,” it said, adding that employment rose for the third month running, in some cases due to improving new order inflows in previous months.