Manufacturing production in South Africa
The economy recorded an average growth rate of -0.5% in the manufacturing sector in the decade to 2022. In 2022, manufacturing growth was -0.3%, down from the 6.0% reading of the prior year.
South Africa Manufacturing Chart
Note: This chart displays Manufacturing Production (ann. var. %) for South Africa from 2013 to 2022.
Source: Statistics South Africa.
South Africa Manufacturing Data
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing production (ann. var. %) | 1.0 | -1.1 | -12.3 | 6.0 | -0.3 |
Manufacturing activity deteriorates in September
Manufacturing output slid 0.5% in month-on-month seasonally adjusted terms in September, which followed August's 0.4% increase. Looking at the details of the release, the deterioration was primarily driven by declining basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery production, as well as falling wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing output. These developments more than offset rebounding petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products and food and beverages output. On an annual basis, manufacturing output fell 4.3% in September (August: +1.5% yoy), the worst result since February. Consequently, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of manufacturing production coming in at minus 0.5% in September, contrasting August's plus 0.2% reading.
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects South African manufacturing projections for the next ten years from a panel of 2 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable manufacturing forecast available for South African manufacturing.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our South African manufacturing projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of South African manufacturing forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.