Full-year Manufacturing PMI to grow by 4% in 2022: UOB

The growth, however, will be underpinned by buoyant global trade activity.

UOB expects the full-year manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) to grow an average of 4% in 2022, following its 19th straight month of expansion in January.

The estimated full-year growth, however, will be “underpinned by the buoyant global trade activity expected for the year ahead,” UOB said.

The Omicron variant will likely impact the manufacturing outlook since it remains to be a key downside risk to the global trade demand, the analyst added.

Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management also underscored this in its report, saying there are “uncertainties arising from new COVID-19 variants and the geopolitical developments that can disrupt supply chains.”

“The supply deliveries index declined to 50.1 in Jan 2022, from 50.4 in the previous reading, and any further declines could bring it below the expansionary 50 mark, indicating that some initial evidence of supply disruptions may be on the cards then,” UOB said.

The manufacturing PMI in January was at 50.6, marginally lower by 0.1 point than the reading in December.

UOB said the decline in the PMI was “was in tandem with the slowdown in PMI readings across key Asian economies.”