South Africa’s manufacturing production grew in September, defying expectations for a second straight decline, preliminary data from Statistics South Africa showed Tuesday.
Manufacturing production rose 0.9 percent year-on-year following a 0.3 percent fall in August. Economists had expected a 2.5 percent decline.
Positive contributions came from petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products as well as from food and beverages segment, while large negative impact emerged from automobiles and other transport equipment and metal industry, the agency said.
Month-on-month, production grew 2.2 percent in September after a 0.6 percent gain in August. Economists had expected only a 0.7 percent rise.
In the third quarter, manufacturing production increased 1.4 percent from the previous three months.
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