South Africa’s manufacturing production decreased unexpectedly in August, though slightly, preliminary figures from Statistics South Africa showed Thursday.
Manufacturing production dropped 0.2 percent year-over-year in August, reversing a 5.3 percent climb in the previous month. Economists had expected a 1.3 percent increase for the month.
In August, the largest negative contribution was made by the basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division, the agency said.
On a monthly basis, manufacturing production went up a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent in August, just below economists’ expectations for a 0.5 percent gain. In July, production had risen only 0.1 percent.
In the three months ended August, total manufacturing production contracted 0.3 percent compared with the previous three-month period.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com