The HSBC Emerging Markets Index (EMI), a monthly indicator derived from the PMI™ surveys, continued to indicate only a marginal increase in output across global emerging markets in April. The EMI posted 50.4, from 50.3 in March, well below its eight-and-a-half year long run trend level of 53.9.
April data indicated falling output in the four largest emerging economies. Overall business activity across the Chinese manufacturing and services sectors declined slightly for the third month running, the longest sequence of contraction in over five years. Meanwhile, private sector output in Russia fell at the fastest rate since May 2009. Indian business activity fell for the ninth time in ten months, albeit marginally, while Brazil posted a fractional decline for the second time in four months.
Manufacturing output across emerging markets was broadly stagnant in April, while services activity growth was unchanged from March‟s weak rate. The volume of new business across both sectors rose at a rate little changed from March‟s eight-month low. Backlogs of work fell for the fourth month running while a marginal cut in employment was signalled.
Cost pressures remained subdued in April, as average input prices increased at the slowest rate since June 2013. Manufacturing input prices continued to fall in
China, South Korea and Poland, while Russia and Turkey continued to post the sharpest rates of inflation.
