The manufacturing industry in Spain recorded in October a stronger advance in its activity and an improvement in operating conditions, according to data released by S&P Global, which at the same time warns that inflationary pressures "intensify".
As a result, for the second consecutive month the manufacturing PMI index remained in expansion territory, above the 50-point threshold, and stood at 52.2 points, its highest level since August 2025.
Regarding price tensions, S&P Global has indicated that these increased "significantly" during October due to the combination of limited supply and resilient market demand. This scenario led to a "new sharp increase in manufacturers' input costs", with a particular impact on metals, "especially in the prices of metals, such as iron and steel".
According to the firm, demand from abroad has been key to the reactivation of the industrial fabric, since both production and new orders grew at the same time for the first time in six months, with solid rates and marking the best figures in nearly a year, driven by international customers who favored an increase in new export orders for the second consecutive month.
"This rebound in growth is even more impressive when one considers the context of the difficulties that continue to affect the sector, mainly the high energy prices," stressed the director of economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, Paul Smith.
The economist has warned that disruptions on the supply side continue, which is reflected in ever longer delivery times, while companies fear that global instability will continue in the medium term and, as a consequence, confidence in the evolution of the next twelve months has fallen compared with September.
"It is no surprise that companies have been cautious in their hiring, since the latest survey reveals a certain reluctance on the part of manufacturers to replace employees who left the company voluntarily, and the net impact has been a marginal decline in employment compared with September," the analyst added.
Weakness in the labor market
In this way, the labor market in the sector showed fragility in the period analyzed, since, in the uncertain context, companies remained "reluctant" to take on new staff or to fill the vacant positions of those who voluntarily left the company, which has meant that "the net result was a decrease in employment levels".
Supply chain tensions continued to be a determining element, given that in October delays in supplier deliveries were again recorded, in line with the pattern started in July 2023. However, S&P Global points out that "the extent to which delivery times were lengthened was the smallest in the last eight months".
Faced with these supply problems, Spanish manufacturers reacted by increasing their purchases of raw materials. Thus, companies decided to reinforce their input inventories and raised their purchasing activity for the first time since November 2025, which generated "a slight increase in purchase stocks for the first time in thirteen months".
Energy and transport drive inflation
Energy and transport costs continued to be the main drivers of inflation in industry, since "it was once again energy, fuel and transport that were the factors driving inflation, which was generally strong, was well above the average and was the fastest since the four-year high recorded in May".
In response to this increase in costs, Spanish manufacturers have passed part of those rises on to their customers, so that "selling prices rose, recording the fastest net increase in the last four months and consolidating the upward trend after the recent low observed in July".
Business confidence, for its part, has deteriorated noticeably despite the operational improvement, according to S&P Global, which points out that the strong price pressures, together with persistent geopolitical uncertainty, have weighed on manufacturers' morale in October, to the point that, although the indicator remained positive, "overall sentiment decreased compared with September and stood well below its trend".