South Africa Manufacturing Production Slumps In April

(RTTNews) - South Africa's manufacturing output sharply decreased in April mainly due to lower production in key sectors including food, metals, automobiles and chemical industries, preliminary data from Statistics South Africa showed on Tuesday.

Manufacturing production fell an unadjusted 6.3 percent year-on-year following a 1.2 percent drop in March. Output has been declining for past several months.

The biggest negative contributions came from a 7.6 percent decline in output in the food and beverages industry. Production shrank 6.3 percent in the iron and steel and related industries.

The motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment industry logged a 13.0 percent slump and production of petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products decreased 4.7 percent.

Meanwhile, manufacturing production grew on a month-on-month basis for the first time since January. In April, factory output increased 1.9 percent following a 2.5 percent fall in March.

Results of the latest S&P Global PMI survey showed last week that the South African private sector grew for the first time in six months in May as output logged the quickest growth in four years.