The second Cirrus Media Industrials online poll suggests that those in the industry believe it’s too early to say that things are improving for manufacturers, despite September being the first month of growth since June 2011.
The Industrials poll asked respondents the question “with the PMI growing for the first time in two years, is this a sign of manufacturing’s revival?”
The Australian Industry Group PMI – a closely-watched, seasonally adjusted composite index tracking the responses of 200 selected companies from a larger pool – for September showed an overall result of 51.7.
Any result over 50 signals an expansion, something that has not been seen in 27 months.
“Manufacturing ends two-year losing streak” offered a headline from The Australian. The unbroken, month-on-month contractions in the survey represented the longest losing streak in the history of the Australian PMI.
Responses from readers at six Cirrus Media titles were largely cautious regarding the news.
From 779 voters, 257 thought manufacturing “still in trouble”, with 366 – for the most popular option – believing it was “too early” to say that the industry had turned the corner.
Though the positive PMI result – led by the food, beverage and tobacco sub-sector – was welcomed, if the results of the Cirrus Media poll are to be used as a guide, they do not indicate confidence in a recovery.
79.97 per cent of the total responses suggest that the industry is either still in trouble or that it was too early to say that it was returning to health.
Only 18.2 per cent believed that “manufacturing is coming back”.
20 respondents selected “other”.
The 779 votes were registered at the Manufacturers’ Monthly, PACE, Ferret, Food Magazine, Logistics and Materials Handling and Factory Equipment News websites.
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