The global manufacturing sector has started the year on a high note, with business conditions improving at the fastest rate in three months.
In the latest JP Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI report, the index showed a 50.9 rating in January 2026. This marks the sixth month in a row the index has stayed above the 50.0 mark, which separates growth from contraction.
According to the report produced by JP Morgan and S&P Global Market Intelligence, this upturn is being driven by an encouraging increase in the number of economies reporting higher production, the strongest rise in new work in nearly a year, and signs of stabilising international trade.
The recovery was widespread, with many key manufacturing nations reporting positive results. “Looking deeper into output trends, strong growth was seen in India, the US and the ASEAN economies, the latter led by Vietnam. While the Indian expansion followed a general pattern of robust growth in recent years, US growth was the joint-best since April 2022, and the overall ASEAN increase was the joint-fastest since April 2023.”
Major turnarounds were also seen elsewhere, with the Eurozone returning to growth and the United Kingdom’s expansion hitting its fastest pace in 16 months.
Japan and Taiwan also reached multi-month highs in output. Meanwhile, Mainland China and South Korea continued their modest but sustained upturns.
However, not all regions shared in the growth, with Brazil reporting a sharp manufacturing downturn.
The positive activity has boosted business confidence to a ten-month high, especially in Europe. Manufacturers are also hiring again, with global factory employment rising for the first time in three months.
Despite the optimism, the report noted significant hurdles that plague the global industry. Producers are grappling with rising costs, as both raw material prices and the prices they charge for goods rose at the fastest rates in about three years. This was compounded by ongoing supply chain issues, with supplier delivery times worsening for the 20th straight month.
Maia Crook, global economist at JP Morgan, called the data encouraging and noted that “business demand continues to look resilient.”
“The new orders PMI also rebounded to approach its recent highs, and the future output and employment indexes each ticked up on the month (albeit to stilllow levels). Accompanying these strong activity indicators was a 1.4-point move up in the output price PMI to its highest level since early 2023, though this jump was largely driven by the US,” she explained.
