Markit's Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was at 46.1 points in September, up from August's 45 points and above the earlier flash estimate of 46. Although the PMI rose to a six-month peak in September, the Markit Final Eurozone Manufacturing PMI was below the neutral 50 points for the 14th successive month. During the third quarter of 2012 the average PMI as a whole was only 45.1, below the prior quarter's 45.4 and the weakest outcome since the second quarter of 2009.
Business conditions deteriorated in the vast majority of the national manufacturing sectors covered by the survey with the sole exception of Ireland. The Netherlands rose back into expansion territory with 50.7 points. But production continued to drop sharply in the other nations covered by the survey - including the big four of Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, the month-on-month decline in the level of the French PMI at 42.7 points was among the steepest in its history, following similarly sharp accelerations in the rates of contraction for both production and new orders.
The level of incoming new export orders in the euro area declined for the 15th month running in September, while almost all of the nations covered by the survey reported a drop in new export work, with the steepest declines signalled for Greece, Austria and Germany.
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said, "The survey is consistent with manufacturing output falling at a quarterly rate of perhaps as much as one percent which means the sector will act as a severe drag on economic growth. While official data have not yet signalled the renewed weakness, other business surveys have begun to follow the PMI's downward trend. It therefore seems inevitable that the region will have fallen back into a new recession in the third quarter. There were some encouraging signs that the bottom may have been reached, however, with the rate of decline easing to a six-month low."