South Africa’s manufacturing output dropped unexpectedly in January after recovering a month ago, data from Statistics South Africa showed Thursday.
Manufacturing output fell 1.8 percent on a monthly basis, reversing a 1.9 percent increase in December. Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent rise.
On a yearly basis, output declined 2.5 percent in contrast to December’s 0.5 percent increase. This was the biggest annual fall since July 2014. Output was forecast to expand 0.4 percent in January.
The largest negative contribution to manufacturing output came from basic iron and steel and metal products.
In three months to January, manufacturing output decreased 1.1 percent from previous three months.
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