Composites Index shows little change in January

The contraction in Composites Fabricating activity seen in December continued into January. The Gardner Business Index (GBI) closed the month out at 48.5, following December’s similar reading of 48.9.

Most of the components followed suit, doing “more of the same” as seen in the past few months — specifically, components that contracted in December also contracted in January. In fact, new orders, exports and backlog have contracted a little faster each month since March/April 2022. Production and employment activity, which, on the other hand, have been growing faster for a couple months, grew slightly faster again in January. Supplier deliveries continued to lengthen at a continually slowing rate, indicating either supply chain issues have calmed, expectations have been adjusted and/or workarounds have been implemented.

Similarly, future business, a separate sentiment metric on business expectations that is not part of the GBI calculation, improved faster in January like it did in December.