South Africa’s manufacturing output fell 2.3 percent year-on-year in June after contracting by a revised 0.9 percent in May, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast manufacturing volumes would contract by 2.5 percent year-on-year in June.
Factory production on a month-on-month basis was unchanged at 0.0 percent, and was up 1.5 percent in the three months to June compared with the previous three months.
Highlight of the report, Manufacturing: Production and sales, June 2017 shows that the largest negative contributions to production were reported in the following divisions:
- petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products (-10.6% and contributing -2.6 percentage points); and
- wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing (-4,0% and contributing -0.5 of a percentage point).
The largest positive contributions to production were reported in the following divisions:
- food and beverages (1.9% and contributing 0.5 of a percentage point); and
- basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery (2.4% and contributing 0.5 of a percentage point).
Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production was flat in June 2017 compared with May 2017. This followed month-on-month changes of -0.3% in May 2017 and 2.2% in April 2017.
Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production increased by 1.5% in the second quarter of 2017 compared with the first quarter of 2017. Six of the ten manufacturing divisions reported positive growth rates over this period. The largest contributors were the food and beverages division (4.1% and contributing 1.0 percentage point) and the motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment division (3.7% and contributing 0.2 of a percentage point).
