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India’s textile and apparel sector has not merely had a busy week. It has had a test of execution. On May **, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Warangal PM MITRA Park in Telangana, India’s first functional mega textile park: *,*** acres, ****;*,***.** crore, or about $*** million, in project cost, ** per cent land allotment, and more than ****;*,*** crore, about $*** million, in expected investment.

Industry-level expectations showed a mixed trend. The automotive sector deteriorated sharply, with its indicator falling by 13 points to minus 57.2 points. Private demand remained under pressure, with its balance falling by 8.2 points to minus 41.6 points, ZEW said in a press release.

Germany’s economic expectations improved in May 2026 after two months of sharp declines, though sentiment stayed negative.
The ZEW Indicator rose by 7 points to minus 10.2 points, while the current situation indicator slipped to minus 77.8 points.
ZEW cited weak industrial production, rising energy prices, inflation above 2 per cent, and hopes of easing Middle East tensions.

“Expectations are improving but stay in negative territory. The financial market experts are hoping that the Iran war will end soon. Nevertheless, weak industrial production, rising energy prices and an inflation rate that exceeds the two-per-cent mark continue to burden the German economy,” said ZEW president Professor Achim Wambach, PhD.

“There is cautious hope for a potential recovery in the second half of 2026, provided that the Middle East conflict eases and the government’s economic stimulus measures are having an effect,” added Wambach.

For the eurozone, economic expectations improved more strongly. The ZEW indicator rose by 11.3 points to minus 9.1 points, while the assessment of the current economic situation edged up by 1.6 points to minus 41.4 points.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SG)

This is driven by continued expansion in the freight market.

The US logistics manager’s index for April was 69.9, up by 4.2 points from March’s 65.7—the fastest level of expansion since March 2022.
Growth is rising at an increasing rate for inventory levels, warehousing utilisation and prices, and transportation utilisation and prices.
Growth is increasing at a falling rate for inventory costs.
Warehousing capacity and transportation capacity are contracting.

Transportation prices continue on their sharp upward trajectory (plus 5.6) in April to 95. This is the second-fasted rate of expansion for this, or any, metric recorded in 9.5-year history of the LMI.

Mirroring this movement, the April 2026 reading also features the second-lowest reading ever for transportation capacity, which is down by 10.9 points to 28.4.

The 66.6-point spread between transportation prices and transportation capacity is the largest delta ever seen. Taken together, this means that the transportation metric has never before been tracked getting simultaneously tighter or more expensive.

Freight markets were already on a strong upward trajectory coming into 2026; the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and subsequent increase in fuel costs have supercharged these movements.

While this is good news for carriers in the near-term, it remains unclear what the long-term effects will be. Inventory costs (74.7) and warehousing prices (72.2) both came in above 70, which is considered the threshold for ‘significant’ expansion.

Aggregating these three costs together, it is observed that upward movements in logistics costs are in at 242.4. This is the fastest rate of expansion since March 2022 and represents a 46.8-point increase from the much milder reading of 195.7 from December.

Previous readings above 240.0 for aggregate logistics costs have been strongly significantly predictive of future supply-induced inflation.

Freight markets have been resilient thus far, partly because low inventories have meant that firms need to keep goods moving. Interestingly, inventory level expansion increased (plus 7.3) from 52.4 to 59.8 over the course of April, corroborating other reporting that inventories have begun increasing as firms consolidate shipments to avoid transportation surcharges.

Researchers at Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Florida Atlantic University, Rutgers University, and the University of Nevada, Reno, and in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) issued the latest LMI report.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)