Turkish manufacturing recovery picks up pace

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The upturn in the Turkish manufacturing sector continued in October with the headline rate hovering above the threshold level for the fifth consecutive month following the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Turkey’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 53.9 in October from 52.8 the previous month, IHS Markit’s monthly purchasing managers’ index report -- prepared in collaboration with the Istanbul Chamber of Industry -- showed on Monday.

The reading suggested a solid improvement in the health of the sector and indicated that the Turkish manufacturing sector continued to grow strongly at the start of the final quarter of the year.

The report stressed with the backing of stronger customer demand, output growth ticked higher leading to the fastest rise in employment since February 2018.

"Manufacturers indicated that customer demand continued to recover, with new orders rising for the fifth month running. New export orders also expanded," it said.

It underlined that inflationary pressures on input costs and output prices continued last month.

"Weakness of the Turkish lira again led to sharp rises in both input costs and output prices in October.

“Input costs increased at the fastest pace for two years, while charges were raised to the greatest extent in 25 months,” the report said.