Mexico's Manufacturing Orders Indicator (PMI) increased 0.6 percent in May, year-over-year, the second consecutive annual increase and the third so far this year, according to SteelOrbis' analysis of data from the national agency of statistics Inegi.
For the month of April, the 2023 data is the highest since 2019, the year before the Covid-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020.
The increase in the total PMI for May was due to the better performance in two of the five components. The largest increase was in the expected volume of orders with an annual advance of 7.3 percent (the largest annual increase in the last 24 months). Considering only the month of April, 2023 had the highest level in the last nine years.
The second increase was the inventory of inputs with a rise of 1.2 percent. It is the seventh consecutive annual increase.
In contrast, the three components in negative territory were "expected volume of production" with 4.2 percent, "expected delivery of inputs by suppliers" with 3.5 percent and the "expected level of employed personnel" with 0.7 percent.
In May, the PMI was 55.0 points, a level in the expansion zone above 50 points. The PMI accumulates five consecutive months in the expansion zone.