The au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing PMI dropped to 52.9 in February 2022, after a final 55.4 a month earlier, a preliminary reading showed. This was the weakest growth in factory activity since last September, amid renewed COVID-19 restrictions and ongoing supply chain disruptions.
Output shrank for the first time in five months, while new orders growth eased to the softest in the current sequence expansion, with slowing in new exports orders growth. The rate of job creation slowed with declining in backlogs of work accumulation. On the price front, input prices inflation accelerated, amid raw material shortages, while output cost inflation eased. Finally, business confidence weakened.