Sharp Rate Reduction
The Prague-based Ceska Narodni Banka reduced the two-week repurchase rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.75 percent, its lowest level since June 2007. The size of the cut is the largest since at least 2004.
The koruna fell to 24.953 per euro immediately after the decision, and this was its lowest level since Oct. 27. It was trading at 24.868 at 12:37 p.m. in Prague, compared with 24.550 late yesterday. The koruna has risen 11 percent against the euro over the last 12 months, and obviously Czech exporters have been feeling the pinch. This was the second time this year the bank has lowered rates (there was a quarter point reduction in August) as economic growth in both the CR and its key trading partners has fallen back rapidly.
Exports Weaken In September
Czech exports exceeded imports by 10.9 billion koruna ($581 million) in September, well short of the 14 billion-koruna surplus many economist had been expecting. On a working day adjusted (but not price corrected) basis exports were down 1.2% year on year in September (the third month of y-o-y decline, there were 3 working days more in September 2008 than there were in September 2007), while imports were up 6.5%.
Without the working day correction exports at current prices grew by 5.1% and imports by 6.8%, year-on-year. Month on month, seasonally adjusted exports were up by 1.8% over August and imports by 9.8%.
Year-on-year, exports and imports at current prices were up by 5.1% and 6.8% respectively. Imports grew faster than exports for the first time since February 2008. External trade turnover amounting to CZK 436.6 billion was the second highest (after April) in this year. September 2008 was by three working days longer than September 2007. Due to appreciation of the koruna external trade grew more rapidly in euros (exports +18.3%, imports +20.3%) and US dollars (exports +22.4%, imports +24.5%) than in korunas.
Flagging Retail Sales
And if we want additional evidence on the domestic slowdown in the Czech Reoublic then we need look no further than August retail sales, which fell the most in six years as inflation damped consumer spending and two fewer working days than a year ago cut shopping hours. Inflation adjusted sales (excluding automotive sales) were down 2.6 percent, compared with a 3.4 percent increase in July, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office earlier this week. Working day adjusted sales were down 0.3 percent.
Weak Czech Manufacturing Forms Part Of A Global Picture
The October manufacturing contraction in the Czech Republic really forms part of a much larger global picture, since recent events in the CEE financial sector have, above all, a global backdrop, one which the current dependence of the Czech economy on exports only serves to highlight.
Manufacturing output fell in October in one country after another, and indeed the latest JP Morgan Global PMI report really does makes for quite depressing reading.
The world manufacturing sector suffered its sharpest contraction in survey history during October, as the ongoing retrenchment of global demand and further deepening of the credit market crisis negatively impacted on the trends in output, new orders and employment. The JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI posted 41.0, its lowest reading since data were first compiled in January 1998 and a level below the no-change mark of 50.0 for the fifth month in a row.
Output, total new orders and new export orders all contracted at the fastest rates in the survey history in October. With the exception of India, which again bucked the global trend, all of the national manufacturing surveys posted declines in output and new orders. The impact of the downshift in global market conditions also had a far-reaching effect on international trade volumes. Although new export orders fell at a slower rate than total new business, all of the national manufacturing sectors covered by the survey (including India) saw a reduction in new export orders.
"October manufacturing PMI data reinforce the stark retrenchment that the sector is currently facing, with production, total new business and new export orders all falling at record rates. The latest Output Index reading is consistent with a fall in global IP of almost 8%. The only positive from the surveys was a decline in input prices for the first time since August 2003."
David Hensley, Director of Global Economics Coordination at JPMorgan
Economies across the Eurozone are being affected. In Italy manufacturing activity contracted at the fastest rate in at least 11 years in October according to the latest Markit/ADACI PMI survey out yesterday (Monday). The Markit Purchasing Managers Index fell to 39.7, its lowest since the series began in 1997, down from 44.4 in September. The Italian manufacturing PMI has now not been above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction since February and the latest data showed activity falling at an accelerating pace as demand shrank while jobs were shed at the fastest rate in the history of the survey.
Other recent indicators from Italy have also been far from encouraging, with October business confidence hit its lowest point since September 1993, when the economy seized up after Italy was rocketed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism a year earlier.
Germany's manufacturing sector contracted in October at the fastest pace in seven years as incoming orders and output experienced their sharpest declines in more than 12 years. The headline index in the Markit Purchasing Managers Index for what is Europe's biggest economy fell in October to 42.9 from 47.4 the previous month, well below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction.
The French manufacturing purchasing managers index was revised down to a series low 40.6 in October, down from both the 'flash' estimate of 40.8 and September's 43.0 figure, Markit Economics said in a press release issued on Monday.
Disaggregating the figures, the output component fell to an all-time low of 37.8 from September's 41.7 level, while new orders slipped all the way to a series low of 34.9 for the month, down 2.6 points from September's 37.5 level. Purchase quantities and new export orders also saw some new record lows in October, falling to 33.7 and 38.5 respectively.
Spain's manufacturing sector continued to shrink at a record pace in October - possibly the fastest among all those included in the JPMorgan index - with both output and new orders contracting and employers shedding jobs at a near record pace, according to the latest Markit Economics Purchasing Managers Index published yesterday (Monday). The Markit PMI for Spain dropped to 34.6 in October, the lowest reading registered by any eurozone economy since the series began in February 1998 and down from the already rapid 38.3 point contraction in September. As we can see, according to this indicator Spanish manufacturing has now been weakening steadily since the start of 2006.
Central and Eastern Europe
Apart from the Czech decline, output also contracted elsewhere in the CEE. In Poland the ABN Amro Purchasing Managers Index fell for the sixth month running to 43.7 (down from September's 44.9) a record low and well below the neutral reading of 50, according to Markit Economics. Hungary's manufacturing industry contracted sharply in October, according to the latest PMI reading, which fell 5.2 points to hit 44.7 in October - a historic low, and 0.8 points below the previous worst reading registered in October 1998, according to the latest data from the Hungarian Association of Logistics, Purchasing and Inventory Management (HALPIM).
As the Eurozone itself contracts, these economies which are heavily dependent for exports to the zone will be buffeted, especially now that forex loans for their domestic housing markets have all but dried up.
US Manufacturing
The US manufacturing PMI dropped back to 38.9 in October from 43.5 in September, indicating a significantly faster rate of decline in manufacturing when comparing October to September. It appears that US manufacturing is experiencing significant demand destruction as a result of recent events. October's reading is the lowest level for the US PMI since September 1982 when it registered 38.8 percent. On the other hand inflationary pressures are evaporating rapidly, and the Prices Index fell to 37, the lowest level since December 2001 when it registered 33.2 percent. Export orders also contracted for the first time in 70 months.
The BRICs
China's PMI dropped to lows not previously seen in October, confirming that the economy of the so-called factory of the world is now decelerating along with everyone else. Two international surveys measuring the PMI independently corroborated the evidence of a cooling Chinese industrial economy.
According to a survey complied by securities firm CLSA, China's PMI fell to 45.2 in October, its third consecutive drop, from 47.7 in September, as new orders and exports, as well as pricing power, were squeezed by the global financial crisis.
"The very sharp fall in the October PMI confirms that China is more integrated into the global economy than ever. Chinese manufacturers are seeing their order books cut, both at home and abroad, as the world economy falls into recession," said Eric Fishwick, CLSA's head of economic research, in a report released Monday. "Costs are falling but so are output prices. The coming 12 months will be difficult ones for manufacturers, China included."
The government-backed China Federation of Logistics purchasing managers' index - published on 1 November - also showed a strong contraction, falling to 44.6 in October, the lowest level since the data began in 2005, from 51.2 in September
Russian manufacturing contracted in October at the slowest pace in over two and a half years as the global financial crisis cut demand, according to the latest reading on VTB Bank Europe's Purchasing Managers' Index, which fell to 46.4 from 49.8 in September. This was the third consecutive month in which Russian industry has been contracting.
Business conditions in the Brazilian manufacturing worsened in October for the first time since June 2006. The headline seasonally adjusted Banco Real Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) posted 45.7, down from 50.4 in September, pointing to a sharp contraction -the fastest in the survey history in fact. The PMI was driven down by accelerated declines in output and new orders, as well as falls in employment and stocks of purchases.
Even in India the seasonally adjusted ABN Amro India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped steeply in October, falling to a record low of 52.2, down from a reading of 57.3 in September suggesting another sharp deceleration in growth, even if Indian industry managed to keep expanding. The biggest fall was in the new orders sub-index, which dropped to 54.4 in October from 62.6 in September. Perhaps the saving grace in the Indian survey is that most firms said demand remained strong in domestic markets, while it had been international orders which had waned. This can also be seen from the new export orders sub-index, which contracted to 49.7 for the first time in the history of the series. That fits in with the latest data showing that Indian year on year export growth slowed to 10.4% in September. Thus the Indian expansion is still hanging on in there, by its fingernails, but it is hanging on in.
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