South Africa: Manufacturing production drops again in October
Manufacturing output dropped 3.4% year-on-year in October (September: -1.9% yoy). Looking at the details of the release, October’s sharper drop largely reflected a slowdown in food and beverages output as well as a contraction in the manufacture of textiles, clothing, leather and footwear. In addition, the manufacture of petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products fell markedly in October.
On a monthly basis, manufacturing production grew 2.6% in seasonally-adjusted terms in October, which was below September’s 2.9% expansion and marking the worst result since April. Meanwhile, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of manufacturing production coming in at minus 11.5%, down from September’s minus 11.3%.