Poland’s PMI fell 0.4 points to 54.6 in January, IHS Markit reported on February 1. 

The easing of the indicator is slight and does not blur the overall picture of the robust condition of Poland’s manufacturing sector, IHS Markit said.

“The data signalled a bright start to 2018 for the Polish manufacturing sector, as the volume of incoming new orders rose at the fastest rate in three years. This led to the fastest rise in employment for nine months and another marked, albeit slower, expansion in output,” the compiler of the index said.

Polish factories have so much work that, once again, the survey data pointed to capacity constraints, as backlogs of work increased for the fourth time in six months, IHS Markit said. 

“Pressure on capacity mainly stemmed from inflows of new work. The volume of new orders received by Polish manufacturers increased at the fastest rate since January 2015, extending the current period of continuous growth to 15 months. New export orders also expanded more sharply in January,” the company said.

The reading follows a robust performance from the industrial sector in December. Output expanded 7.3% y/y in adjusted terms in last month of 2017, a solid figure even if 2.4pp slower than the adjusted annual growth in the preceding month. The data for January is due later this month. 

Polish PMI has now remained above the 50-point threshold separating stagnation from growth for 40 months straight now, the longest sequence of unbroken positive readings since the survey began in 1998.