South Africa: Manufacturing production deteriorates in February
Manufacturing production declined 1.3% month on month in seasonally adjusted terms in February (January: +0.5% mom). Looking at the details of the release, the downturn largely reflected food and beverages output contracting. Moreover, textiles, clothing, leather and footwear output also contracted in February. Lastly, basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery output also declined.
On an annual basis, manufacturing production plunged 5.2% in February (January: -4.1% yoy), the worst result since April 2022. Consequently, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of manufacturing production coming in at minus 1.4% in February, down from January’s minus 0.9%.