Industrial activity in the euro area continued to grow in October, but at the slowest pace in eight months, with logistics and supply chain problems causing sharp price increases and threatening to slow economic growth at the end of the year, according to final data from the latest IHS Markit business survey.
The industrial PMI index fell in October to an 8-month low of 58,3 points from 58,6 points in September and below a preliminary index of 58,5 points. This is the weakest expansion in euro area industrial activity since February 2021.
The continuing supply and supply disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, together with the shortage of truck drivers, have led to shortages of products and forced businesses to struggle to get the raw materials they need.
The PMI, which measures only industrial production, which is seen as a good benchmark for economic health, fell to 53,3 from 55,6 a month earlier, reaching its lowest level since June 2020.
Among the four major European economies, Germany's and France's industrial PMIs fell to nine-month lows in October, while production growth in Spain was the slowest in seven months, with Italy's industrial PMI alone rising surprisingly sharply from the previous month.
Germany's manufacturing PMI fell to 57,8 from 58,4 points in September, France's to 53,6 points in October from 55,0 a month earlier and Spain's to 57,4 to 58,1 points.
Only Italy's industrial PMI rose to 61,1 points in October from 59,7 points in September, reaching its third highest level in the study's history.
