The situation on the ground was little changed since last month, but that left major headwinds still facing electrical manufacturers. Commenters mentioned concerns about inflation and supply chain problems that were further exacerbated by China’s lockdown of its largest city and one of its busiest ports, Shanghai, in an attempt to clamp down on rising COVID cases. The share of respondents that reported better conditions increased in April, but the proportion that noted worse conditions ticked up as well. The net effect was a modest shift from an overall “unchanged” reading of 50 in March to one of slow growth expansion at 54.2 in April.

Read the full report.