Global manufacturing expanded 4.4% year-over-year in November, and at 3.9% after 11 months is on track to record its strongest year of growth since 2011. As was the case in previous months, steady growth in productive capacity (+3.2%) was amplified by increasingly favourable cyclical conditions. Production volumes have now outpaced potential output for 13 months, the longest period of above-trend growth in the post-recession period. At 1.3% in November, the manufacturing output gap was at its highest level since March 2012. Tight operating conditions continued to exert upward pressure on producer prices, which rose 0.5% for the fourth consecutive month.