Finance
Russian factory sector sees slight improvement in April, PMI shows
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on May 5, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
In April, Russia's manufacturing PMI rose to 49.3, showing a slower contraction. Employment dropped, and input costs rose at a slow pace.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian manufacturing sector saw a slight easing in its downturn in April, with contractions in both output and new orders slowing to a marginal pace, S&P Global reported on Monday.
The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for Russia's manufacturing sector rose to 49.3 last month from 48.2 in March, marking a second consecutive monthly decline but at a slower rate. A PMI reading below 50.0 signals contraction, while above 50.0 indicates growth.
The report highlighted a renewed drop in employment, ending a three-month streak of net job creation, with firms opting not to replace voluntary leavers as production requirements dipped.
Despite this, confidence among manufacturers remained elevated, driven by hopes for stronger demand and plans to expand product ranges.
Input costs rose at the weakest pace since February 2020, aided by favourable exchange rate movements against the dollar, which helped moderate price hikes for imported goods.
That contributed to a more muted rise in selling prices, marking the slowest rate of output charge inflation since January 2023.
Russian manufacturers increased purchasing activity slightly in April, aiming to rebuild safety stocks amid stabilising supplier delivery times.
However, subdued client demand continued to weigh on new orders, both domestically and abroad, with competition and reduced purchasing power cited as key challenges.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
The article discusses the slight improvement in Russia's manufacturing sector as indicated by the April PMI report.
Employment saw a renewed drop, ending a three-month period of net job creation.
Input costs rose at the weakest pace since February 2020, aided by favorable exchange rate movements against the dollar.
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