Manufacturing leaves the building

This morning the ANZ’s morning note said the following:

In Australia today, there are no major data releases.

Only the manufacturing PMI. In the US, and just about every other country on earth, the manufacturing PMI is one of the top five data releases for the month. Just sayin’.

And so, on to the manufacturing PMI for May, released today by the Australian Industry Group, where the result is exceedingly poor, down further from April’s tank:

• Manufacturing activity deteriorated further in May, following its sharp fall in April. The seasonally adjusted Australian Industry Group-PwC Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI®) fell 1.5 points to 42.4 (readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease). The May reading is the lowest since September 2011.
• Despite the overall deceleration, three sub-sectors expanded in May. These were paper, printing & publishing; machinery & equipment; and miscellaneous manufactures.
• Survey respondents remained cautious about the outlook, citing softer demand, the strong Australian dollar, the impending carbon tax and import competition as leading inhibitors of manufacturing activity.
• Wages and input costs continued to rise in May, while the decline in selling prices persisted, pointing to a further squeezing of manufacturing profit margins.
• All States, except Queensland, recorded decreases in manufacturing activity.
• Manufacturing capacity utilisation fell to 70.7.

A couple of sub-sectors managed gains:

But new orders tanked:

As did pretty much every other component:

Almost all measures are now below their lowest levels of last year. Manufacturing is leaving the building.

Pmi May Report Final May 2012