manufacturing activity in the central us region contacted in october after stalling the previous month marking its first decline since the onset of the covid19 pandemic data from the federal reserve bank of kansas city showed thursday the tenth district manufacturing surveys composite index decreased to minus 7 in october from 1 in september the lowest reading since may 2020 and missing economists forecasts who expected the index to be unchanged in a poll by the wall street journal the indicator gauges manufacturing activity of firms located in the western third of missouri all of kansas colorado nebraska oklahoma and wyoming and the northern half of new mexico a value greater than zero signals that activity in the region grew over the month the data comes after other us regional indicators assessing conditions in the manufacturing sector carried out by the new york philadelphia and richmond federal reserve banks suggested factory activity contracted in all these areas regional factory activity declined slightly in october said chad wilkerson vice president and economist at the federal reserve bank of kansas city activity decreased in computer and electronic wood primary metals and plastics and rubber manufacturing the kansas city fed said the production index decreased sharply to minus 22 in a sign that factory output decreased in october demand also weakened according to the survey the volume of shipments index fell to minus 18 while the volume of new orders index retreated to minus 16 a sign of contracting demand for goods the employment index fell to 3 suggesting firms in the area slowed hiring we are still struggling with finding competent and reliable employees it is severely inhibiting our ability to expand our operations one of the respondents of the survey said supplychain bottlenecks continued to ease with the backlogs of orders index falling to minus 19 and the supplier delivery time index edging up to minus 1 both indicators pointed to declining backlogs and broadly stable vendor lead times lower demand led to moderating inflation pressures the index of prices paid for raw materials fell to 13 and the index of prices received for finished products decreased to 26 supply chain is better overseas shipments are cheaper and faster helping reduce prices paid for materials another respondent said firms turned pessimistic about the shortterm outlook the future composite indexwhich gauges the outlook in the next six months fell to minus 1 in october from 9 the previous month the majority of future indexes also moved into negative territory the kansas city fed said