[Employees wearing face masks work at a factory of the component maker SMC during a government-organized tour of its facility following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Beijing, China May 13, 2020. (File photo by=REUTERS/Thomas Peter)]

TOKYO: Most Asian factories saw activity slow in March, as slumping Chinese demand and rising raw material costs blamed on the Ukraine crisis added strains to firms already suffering from lingering supply chain disruptions, Reuters reported.
 
While Japan benefited from easing COVID-19 infections, the spike in fuel and grain costs clouded the outlook for many Asian economies that are reliant on energy imports. China's factory activity slumped at the fastest pace in two years in March, a private sector purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed on Friday (Apr 1), as the fallout from the Ukraine crisis and resurgence in domestic coronavirus cases hit external and domestic demand.  The slowdown in China bodes ill for Asia, which is host to big manufacturers dependent on consumption in the world's second-largest economy, analysts say.

 
South Korea's factory activity slowed in March with new export orders posting the sharpest reduction since July 2020, as companies took a hit from a rise in input prices for goods ranging from oil, metals, and semiconductors. Factory activity also slowed in Taiwan and Vietnam, and contracted in Malaysia, as the region felt the pain from rising raw material prices, other PMIs released on Friday showed. But Japan's export orders slumped as external demand suffered from pandemic curbs in China and supply chain disruptions caused by Russia's war in Ukraine.