Report: Manufacturing sector expands in June

-- Industrial Distribution, 7/1/2008 9:10:00 AM

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in June following four months of decline, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s monthly Report on Business.

ISM’s Purchasing Managers Index registered 50.2 percent, up .6 percent from May’s reading of 49.6. A PMI above 50 percent indicates the sector is generally growing; a reading below 50 percent indicates it is contracting.

Though the PMI indicates minimal change in the manufacturing sector month over month, ISM spokesman Norbert J. Ore claims that is “hardly the situation.”

“… When viewed from the manufacturer’s perspective, they are experiencing higher prices for their inputs while demand for their products is slowing,” said Ore, who is chairman of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

The ISM Prices Index, which measures the prices manufacturers are paying to their suppliers, registered 91.5 in June compared to 87 in May. This is the highest reading for the Prices Index since July 1979, when it registered 93.2 percent, according to ISM.