The domestic industry remains on a growth path at the beginning of the year
Despite the corona crisis, the industry in Austria continued to grow at the beginning of the year. The growth in orders remained almost unchanged and, for the first time in a year, additional jobs were created in the industry, explained the economic experts at Bank Austria. The Purchasing Managers' Index (EMI) determined by the institute rose to 54.2 points in January, the highest value in over two years.
This means that the indicator is above the threshold of 50 points for the seventh consecutive month, i.e. in the growth zone. With the slight improvement compared to the end of the year, the trend in Austria differs from the overall European development, because the EMI in the euro area fell by half a point to 54.7 points in January, as German industry in particular grew weaker, according to chief economist Stefan Bruckbauer.
However, supply bottlenecks would lead to a massive increase in costs in the domestic industry, while the fierce competition only allowed moderate price adjustments in sales. Companies are increasingly confronted with disruptions in the supply chain, which would affect the availability of some raw materials and intermediate products, among other things as a result of bottlenecks in shipping containers.
According to the experts at Bank Austria, the industrial business prospects would deteriorate somewhat in the short term, because the extended lockdown should immediately lead to weaker industrial activity. But production expectations for the next twelve months had climbed to a three-year high because the prospect of a normalization of economic life with the start of vaccinations had become more concrete.
