SA Manufacturing Economy Still Shrinking Fast

Johannesburg, Jul 9 (I-Net Bridge) - The physical volume of manufacturing in South Africa in May declined by  17.1% year-on-year (y/y) after it declined by -21.6% in April, data provided by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on Thursday shows.

The value of sales in the industry was reported down  18.9% y/y after a 21.8% decline in April.

The physical volume of production dipped  16.9% in the quarter to May from a year earlier.

Stats SA said the 17.1% decrease in manufacturing production in May 2009 compared with May 2008 was mainly due to lower production in the basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division (-24.9% and contributing  5.5 percentage points), followed by motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment (-32.2% and contributing -3.6 percentage points) and the petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products division (-14.6% and contributing  3.5 percentage points).

The seasonally adjusted manufacturing production for the three months ended May 2009 decreased by 3.0%  compared with the previous three months, an improvement from the 4.4% quarter-on-quarter decrease in April 2009.

“Lower production levels were reported by eight of the ten manufacturing divisions during the latest three months,” said Stats SA.
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