Recovery in Turkish manufacturing sector slows down

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Pace of recovery in Turkey's manufacturing activity eased in November amid a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a closely watched business survey on Tuesday.

Turkey’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector slipped to 51.4 last month, down from 53.9 previous month, showed London-based global data firm IHS Markit’s monthly report, prepared in collaboration with the Istanbul Chamber of Industry.

The reading was the lowest since the sector began its recovery from pandemic-related downturn in June, it said.

Despite the fall in the headline figure, November PMI was still above the 50.0 no-change, signaling an improvement in business conditions.

Survey showed that output and new orders eased in the month as rise in COVID-19 case numbers in the country cut customer demand and production processes.

Companies continued to expand their staffing levels in response to the strong rebound in workloads seen in recent months.

So employment increased for the sixth consecutive month, the survey noted.

"That said, the sector has shown before that it can rebound quickly from disruption caused by the pandemic, and firms were confident enough in the outlook to maintain job creation during the month," said Andrew Harker, the economics director at the IHS Markit.

Harker stressed that rises in input costs and output prices were down slightly compared to October.

A further moderation of inflation in the upcoming months is expected with the Turkish lira gaining ground recently, he noted.