Growing pessimism in CEE manufacturing

We begin daily reports of 2025 with a comment on the Manufacturing PMI Indices in the region. At the beginning of the year, market sentiment for December was released, and we can summarize it as growing pessimism in the manufacturing sector. Apart from Hungary, where the local PMI index marginally grew to 50.6 in December 2024 from 50.4 in the previous month, PMI Indices declined in December 2024 across the region, following the developments in Germany. In Czechia, the latest PMI Index is at 44.8, in Poland at 48.2 and in Romania at 46.4. The upward trend (three-month moving average) has reversed in CEE countries as well, suggesting rather muted prospects for the manufacturing sector at the beginning of 2025. In general, new orders keep falling in Czechia, Poland, and Romania as demand remains somewhat weak. Subdued demand on the domestic side has been a drag in Czechia or Romania, while in Poland, the export side and weakness of Germany were named as the main reasons for the decline of new orders.