South Africa: Manufacturing stalls once more in January

A preliminary estimate revealed little improvement for the manufacturing sector at the outset of the year. According to Statistics South Africa, manufacturing output rose by a meager 0.3% year-on-year in January, roughly in line with December 2018’s flat reading (previously reported: +0.1% year-on-year). All told, output gains in the food and beverage industries were broadly offset by output losses in the metal products and machinery industries. For their part, motor vehicle industries’ output growth fell flat.

In month-on-month terms, manufacturing output fell 2.0% in seasonally-adjusted terms (December 2018: +1.0% month-on-month s.a.). Meanwhile, annual average growth in manufacturing output ticked down to 0.9% from 1.1% a month earlier.

South Africa Manufacturing Output Forecast

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect manufacturing output to increase 1.6% in 2019, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2020, the panel expects manufacturing output to increase 2.1%.