Poland's manufacturing sector remained in contraction with a slight improvement in February, HSBC and Markit Economics reported. Manufacturing PMI for Poland rose to 48.9 points from 48.6 in January. Production levels stabilized in January, but declined slightly in February, the report said. Falling output was accompanied by further layoffs.

Agata Urbańska, an economist for Central and Eastern Europe at HSBC, said that the pace of deterioration has been slowing down since September 2012, when the composite index was at 47 points.

“The PMI survey shows that employment contraction might be bottoming out. If this improvement is sustained in the coming months that would be a very important sign for a turnaround in growth outlook in H2 2013,” she said.

The HSBC Poland Manufacturing PMI is a composite indicator of manufacturing performance, derived from indicators for new orders, output, employment, suppliers' delivery times and stock of purchases. A level of over 50.0 indicates an overall improvement in the sector, while anything under 50 indicates deterioration.

KW