Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - TheVietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell sharply to 41.9 inMarch from 49.0 in Febr⭕uary, a survey by🌠 IHS Markit and Nikkei released on April1 showed.

The COVID-19 pandemichad a negative impact on the Vietnamese manufacturing sector during March,according to the survey. Business conditionsdeteriorated to the greatest extent since the survey began in March 2011 amidrecord falls in output, new orders and employment. Firms also scaled backpurchasing activity and inventory holdings, while severe disruption to supplychains was reported. Meanwhile, business confidence also hit a new low. The latest PMI survey datasignalled a steep decline in the health of the manufacturing sector, and onethat was the most marked in more than nine years of data collection. Thedeterioration surpassed the previous record seen in July 2012. The COVID-19 pandemic led tosubstantial declines in both new orders and production during March. Both fellat the sharpest rates in the survey's history, with total new businessdecreasing at a broadly similar pace to new export orders. According to the survey,around 42 percent of respondents saw manufacturing production fall at the endof the first quarter. Steep reductions were registered across each of theconsumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors. A severe drop in new ordersas a result of COVID-19 led firms to lower their staffing levels. Employmentfell markedly, and for the second month running. Despite job cuts, firms werestill able to reduce their backlog of work given the extent of the declinein new business. Manufacturers also looked toreduce their purchasing activity during March, with input buying down at arecord pace. An unprecedented fall in stocks of purchases was signalled as aresult./.