PARIS (Reuters) – France’s manufacturing sector continued contracting in June, according to a monthly survey, although the decline was not quite as bad as initially estimated.
HCOB’s final Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the French manufacturing sector in June, as compiled by S&P Global, came in at 46.0 points.
Any figure below 50 points signifies a contraction, but the final June manufacturing PMI number was a bit better than the preliminary figure of 45.5 points. The final June manufacturing PMI figure was also up from 45.7 points in May.
Nevertheless, Hamburg Commercial Bank economist Norman Liebke said prospects for French manufacturing remained weak. The figures for June marked the fifth consecutive month in which manufacturing business activity in France had contracted.
“For the fifth month in a row, things are not looking good for the manufacturing sector in France. According to the HCOB PMIs, production continues to decline, new orders at home and abroad are falling and business expectations have also deteriorated significantly,” said Liebke.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Toby Chopra)
