The export climate for Turkish manufacturers remained strong in February, official data showed on Tuesday, pulled by improved demand conditions when the variant omicron wave has attenuated over a number of the country’s main export markets.
But Russia invasion of Ukraine, both among Turkey’s important partners, clouds the outlook, posing a menace renewed with impact on international demand yet to be seen.
Turkey’s manufacturing export climate index rose to 55.2 in February from 52.3 in January, according to an investigation by the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) and based in London global data company IHS Markit.
Reading reported a improvement in the demand weather for Turkish manufacturing exporters, and one it was the strongest since last August.
the main factor behind the more Mark improvement in demand conditions in February “was the passage of the omicron wave in a number of key export markets, the panel noted.
“In factevery of the top six export destinations for Turkish manufactured goods saw production trends improve mid-term first quarter in the middle of reduced COVID-19 disruption” added.
The index is calculated by weighting together national Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data on production trends from PMI surveys. Weights are derived from statistics on materiality of individual trading partner contributions to exports of Turkish manufacturers.
Germany continued to see son activity recover after the decline recorded at the end of last year, with exit up clearly in February.
Elsewhere in the euro zone, France and Italy have seen growth pick up from January, while Spain reported a strong rebound in exit after a decline to start of the year.
After the rate of expansion in activity in the United States had mellowed to a one-and one-half-year moo in January, growth selected up in February.
The United Kingdom posted strong acceleration in the rate of to augment last month, with exit rising at the sharpest pace in eight months.
the main export market for Turkish manufacturers in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also seen growth to improve, with non-oil activity having now increased sharply for a sustained period.
Meanwhile, Qatar posted the biggest increase in exit of all countries covered by the report. Less positive were the continued reductions in activity in Egypt and Lebanon.
Although the omicron wave has calmed down in a number of key export destinations, other parties of the world experienced disruption as result of the propagation of the virus, mainly in Asia.
Hong Kong was particularly hard hit, posting a sharp decline in most marked activity of all those covered. Meanwhile, the output in China remained broadly unchanged for the second current month and Japan posted the fastest decline in activity since august last year
Elaboration on reading, Andrew Harker, economics director at IHS Markit, said the decrease in the impact of the omicron wave, in particular in key export markets, boosted Turkish manufacturing exporters in February.
“Hopes are rising as the era of disturbance caused by the pandemic is coming to an end. However, the conflict in Ukraine represents a new menace for business, with impact on international demand yet to be seen,” Harker pointed out.
