California's Manufacturing Growth Slows in 1st Q
A recent survey shows that California manufacturers continued to grow this year but not as briskly as they did last year.
In its quarterly survey released April 12, Chapman University, located in Orange, Calif., interviewed purchasing managers from three sectors: high technology, durable goods and non-durable goods.The growth rate for California manufacturers was 60.8 in the first quarter of 2005, down from 63.9 in the fourth quarter of 2004. Anything above 50 signifies growth. “We are still a little bit better than the rest of the nation,” said Raymond Sfeir, the Chapman University economics professor who conducts the survey.
The national manufacturing index was 55.6 for the first quarter of 2005, compared with 57.5 in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Sfeir noted that California’s manufacturing industry in 2005 will grow at about the same rate seen during the first quarter of this year. Purchasing managers noted that while production grew in the first quarter of 2005, new orders grew at a slower rate.
One caveat for future growth is the increase in raw-material prices, particularly for gasoline. “The increase in commodity prices will start to show up in higher producer prices and eventually consumer prices,” the economics professor noted. —Deborah Belgum
