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recovery struggled to keep momentum, leaving the global economy reliant on emerging markets to drive expansion.
A gauge of manufacturing in the 17-member euro region fell to 57,5 from 59 in February, London-based Markit Economics said in a report last week.
Measures for the UK, Switzerland and the Czech Republic weakened.
By contrast, manufacturing growth in China, India and Russia picked up.
Europe’s economy faces headwinds from surging energy costs burdening businesses and households, and a spate of government austerity measures.
Faster inflation may prompt the European Central Bank to raise interests rates next week, pushing the euro higher and hampering the region’s exporters by making their goods more expensive.
Last week’s data adds to signs “that in the developed world growth in the manufacturing and trade-led cycle is petering out,” said David Owen, chief European economist at Jefferies International in London.
“These countries will have to strengthen domestic demand to offset the falloff in exports. The euro exchange rate certainly doesn’t help exporters, even within the euro area, as Chinese goods are much cheaper.”
ECB policy maker comments that they intend to raise interest rates for the first time in almost three years next week has driven up the euro almost 6 percent in the past three months.
An index of manufacturing growth in the US.may have dropped to 61 from 61,4 in March, according to the median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
The Institute for Supply Management will release the data today at 10 a.m. Washington time.
China’s manufacturing growth accelerated for the first time in four months with the index rising to 53,4 from 52,2, while India’s manufacturing grew for a 24th straight month and the index remained at 57,9. Russia’s factory output gauge increased to 55,6 from 55,2, the highest almost five years.
In Europe, the index in Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the region’s manufacturing powerhouse, dropped to 60,9 from 62,7 while the gauge of UK manufacturing growth fell to 57,1 in March from 60,9.
In Switzerland the indicator dropped to 59.3 from 63,5 and in the Czech Republic it fell to 58.6 from 59,8.
“The good news is that we expect the global recovery to proceed, led by emerging markets,” Naovuki Shinohara, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said March 30. “But the not so good news is that it will remain a multi- speed recovery with considerable downside risks.”
At the same time, while the euro area manufacturing sector is slowing, that is “from a rather strong level,” Ken Wattret, chief euro area economist at BNP Paribas in London, said in a note today.
European manufacturers have driven the region’s expansion as government austerity measures curbed household spending.
A gauge of confidence among euro-area manufacturers remained unchanged in March from the previous month while consumers and builders grew more pessimistic about the outlook, a European Commission survey showed on March 30- – Bloomberg.