The pace of growth in Mexico’s manufacturing sector picked up in September after a slump, helped by increases in new orders and the steepest rise in export sales in over three years, a survey showed on Monday.
The IHS Markit Mexico Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 51.7 in September from a 10-month low of 50.7 in August.
A reading above 50 signals expansion in the sector, while a reading below that points to contraction.
“With new work flowing in, goods producers loosened their purse strings, buying inputs and hiring additional workers at stronger rates than those seen midway through the third quarter,” said IHS Markit economist Pollyanna De Lima.
“This, coupled with positive business sentiment, suggests that output is likely to remain on an expansionary trajectory in the near-term,” she said.
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Mexico’s economy contracted slightly in the second quarter, hurt by weak industrial production, and the central bank has trimmed its growth outlook for the year to between 2 percent and 2.6 percent.
Mexico sends about 80 percent of its exports, which are mostly manufactured goods like cars and TVs, to the United States.
The PMI index is composed of five sub-indexes tracking changes in new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of raw materials.