The seasonally adjusted Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled monthly by the market intelligence company S&P Global, posted 48.9 in April (chart).

This is slightly up from 48.3 in March and also the highest since June 2022, when the PMI dropped below the 50-point mark separating the growth and decline.

“The Czech manufacturing sector neared stabilisation as the second quarter began, with output falling only fractionally,” commented Sian Jones, principal economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence. 

“The slow drop in production was driven by the first expansion in new orders since February 2022, as signs of demand improvements became evident,” Jones also highlighted.

April was also the fourth month in a row when the Czech PMI registered an increase.  

Jones added, however, that “external sales conditions worsened amid concerns regarding competitiveness and in the wake of heightened global trade uncertainty following the announcement of US tariffs.”

The return to new sales growth was also partially offset by “a faster contraction in new export orders,” S&P noted in their report, adding that the challenging demand condition in external markets continues to impact customer behaviour.  

S&P’s panellists also pointed out higher costs and cuts in their workforce in April. Their hopes of rebound were also lowest in the last four months, signalling increased concerns amid global trade uncertainties.

“Czech goods producers were upbeat regarding output growth in the next year, but optimism was dampened by worries that revived improvements in demand could be stunted by global trade uncertainty and fragility in the automotive sector,” Jones concluded.

She added that S&P currently projects industrial production “to rise by 0.7% on the year in 2025.”   

As bne IntelliNews covered last month, the Czech industrial production increased by 1.5% year on year, returning to mild growth after a series of unconvincing results, and beating the local market analysts’ expectations, who also joined in negative projections for the second quarter developments due to the tariffs’ impact.