Economy

ISM: Manufacturing growth remained down in August

Written by David Schollaert

September 3, 2025

US manufacturing activity remained muted in August despite a marginal gain from July’s recent low, according to supply executives contributing to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)’s latest report.

The domestic manufacturing sector has contracted now for a sixth straight month, despite a promising start to the year.

The ISM Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) stood at 48.7% in August, a tick higher from 48% a month earlier.

A reading higher than 50% indicates the manufacturing economy is growing, while a reading below that shows contraction.

Still, the overall economy continued to expand for the 64th month since last contracting in April 2020, ISM said. (A Manufacturing PMI higher than 42.3%, over a period of time usually indicates an expansion of the overall economy.)

“In August, US manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly slower rate,” ISM Chair Susan Spence said in a statement on Tuesday.

Production, backlog of orders, and employment indicators, Spence added, were the biggest contributing factors keeping the index in contraction last month.

The New Orders Index was a bright spot, showing growth last month following six months of contraction. The index had a reading of 51.4%, up 4.3 percentage points vs. July’s 47.1% reading, according to ISM.

In August, primary metals and miscellaneous manufacturing were among the seven manufacturing industries that reported growth, while fabricated metal products we among the 10 manufacturing industries reporting contraction.

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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