South Africa’s manufacturing sector contracted for the third straight month in October, survey figures from the Bureau of Economic Research showed Monday.
The seasonally adjusted Barclays Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, dropped to 48.1 in October from 49.9 in September. Economists had expected the index to fall to 49.2. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector.
This suggests that the manufacturing sector is struggling to gain traction in the face of broad-based weak demand, the agency said.
At the same time, the non-seasonally adjusted index rose to 53.2 in October from 51.5 in the previous month. The index remained above 50-mark for the second successive month.
Business activity continued to decline in October. The corresponding index fell to 47.7 from 49.7 in the preceding month.
Meanwhile, new order growth slowed in October after accelerating in the previous month, with the index falling to 50.5 from 51.9.
The sub-index for employment worsened notably to 44.0 in October from 48.5 in September.
On the price front, input price inflation moderated notably in October. The respective index dropped to 73.8 from 77.6 a month earlier.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com