Eurozone manufacturing PMI sets record high in April

The Eurozone Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector posted a strong rise in April to hit a new record, a London-based global data company revealed on Monday.

The eurozone manufacturing PMI improved to 62.9 last month, up from 62.5 in March, the IHS Markit data showed.

It was also the tenth successive month that the index posted above the 50.0 no-change mark.

The eurozone/euro area, or EA19, represents member states that use the single currency, euro.

Investment and intermediate goods recorded the strongest improvement, followed by consumer goods, the survey said, adding that the improvement seen in investment goods was the strongest ever recorded.

"New order books expanded sharply amid evidence that both manufacturers and clients are anticipating a sharp rise in activity over the coming months, as restrictions related to COVID-19 are relaxed."

Noting that growth came from both domestic and international sources, the report said that new export orders rose again at a considerable pace in April.

It stressed that the product shortages subsequently helped to drive input prices up at a rate beaten only once in the survey history.

On the countries' side, the Netherlands led the zone with the record PMI figures of 67.2, followed by Germany with 66.2, and most countries also posted strong increases in April.

Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said: "The past two months have seen output and order books both improve at rates unsurpassed since the survey began in 1997, with surging demand boosted by economies opening up from COVID-19 lockdowns and brightening prospects for the year ahead."

However, supply constraints are also running at unprecedented levels, leading to a record build-up of uncompleted orders at factories, he stated.

"The consequence of demand running ahead of supply is higher prices being charged by manufacturers, which are now also rising at the fastest rate ever recorded by the survey," he added.