Taiwan, Myanmar PMI Falls

Taiwan’s manufacturing sector indicated the weakest rate of growth in August since October 2016, as companies failed to increase their staffing levels for the first time in over five years, Nikkei reported . The Nikkei Taiwan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 53.0 in August, down marginally from 53.1 in July. A reading above 50 points to economic expansion, while a reading below 50 signals contraction. “Encouragingly, export sales rose for the twenty-seventh month in a row, and at a solid pace, suggesting that external demand remained relatively robust,” said Annabel Fiddes, principal economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey. “Confidence toward the 12-month outlook for production fell to a two-year low amid worries over the ongoing China-US trade war.” Meanwhile, the August survey data signaled a sharp deterioration in operating conditions across the Myanmar manufacturing sector. The Nikkei Myanmar PMI fell from 47.9 in July to 46.4 in August. The latest figure indicated the greatest decline in the health of the goods-producing sector since the series began in December 2015. The solid deterioration signaled the second successive contraction in manufacturing performance.