Labor shortages are affecting production volumes, but the food industry is still expanding, according to the latest ISM report. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) currently sits at 59.3%, an increase over last month, but still 2 percentage points below the 12-month high.
Here’s what the food, beverage, and tobacco industry reported for November:
- Growth in new orders
- Growth in production
- Growth in employment
- Slower supplier deliveries
- No change in raw materials inventories
- Customer inventories too low
- Increased prices for raw materials
- Growth in order backlogs
- Growth in new export orders
- Growth in imports
Breaking the trend of the past few months, the average lead time for capital expenditures and maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) supplies increased by 2 days each, to 152 and 35 days, respectively. The average lead time for production materials gave up its 1-day gain from October to return to 67 days.
Overall, November was the 115th straight month of growth for the overall economy and the 27th for the manufacturing sector.
