South Africa Manufacturing Production Falls More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - South Africa's manufacturing production declined for the third straight month in June, and at a faster-than-expected pace, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Thursday.

Manufacturing output fell 3.5 percent year-over-year in June, following a revised 1.8 percent decrease in May. That was above the 2.9 percent drop expected by economists.

The negative contributions to the annual fall were largely driven by motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment, food and beverages, basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery.

On a monthly basis, manufacturing production contracted 1.5 percent in June, reversing a 0.2 percent rebound in May, which was revised from a 0.2 percent fall reported earlier. The expected decline was 0.5 percent.

In the three months to June, manufacturing production was 5.5 percent lower compared to the preceding three-month period.