The manufacturing sector in Vietnam continued to contract in May, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 45.3.
That's down from 46.7, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
There were widespread reports of customer demand weakness across the latest survey. The impact of this was most clearly felt with regards to new orders, which declined rapidly and to the greatest extent in 20 months.
Difficulties in securing sales were also evident in export markets, with new business from abroad decreasing for the third month running. With new orders continuing to fall, firms also reduced output midway through the second quarter of the year.
