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Growth slows in the manufacturing sector

The nation’s manufacturing sector grew at a slower pace during October, boosted by rising orders but increasingly feeling the strain of a continuing rise in energy and raw materials prices.
/ Source: The Associated Press

The nation’s manufacturing sector grew at a slower pace during October, boosted by rising orders but increasingly feeling the strain of a continuing rise in energy and raw materials prices.

The Institute for Supply Management, which issued its monthly report on the U.S. economy’s industrial sector Tuesday, said its manufacturing index was at 59.1 percent last month, down from September’s 59.4 percent.

“Rising prices and energy costs in particular, are of major concern as manufacturers are struggling to control costs,” Norbert Ore, chair of the ISM’s business survey committee. The Washington, D.C.-based ISM compiles its monthly economic reports from surveys of corporate purchasing executives.

One executive who took part in the October survey told of the “most price increase letters I have ever seen” while another respondent expressed concern about “the price of oil and its effect on the future prices of commodities.”