Sharechat Logo

NZ manufacturing activity hits highest level since April

Friday 18th January 2019

Text too small?

New Zealand's manufacturing activity hit its highest level since April in December and while activity in 2018 was weaker than it has been during the past two years, it was still above average.  

The seasonally adjusted PMI for December was 55.1, up 1.4 points from November. A reading above 50 separates expansion from contraction.

The year "averaged 53.8 in activity, slightly ahead of the overall average of 53.4 since the survey began. However, it was still a noticeable dip in expansion compared with 56.2 over 2017 and 56.0 over 2016," said BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard.

Production lifted to 55.7 from 51.9 while employment was at 52.2 versus 51.2 in the November survey. Finished stocks rose to 58.6 versus 55.3, marking a record high. The deliveries measure was at 58.5 versus 53.0.  New orders registered 56.1 versus 56.3 in the prior survey. 

"The latest NZ PMI result is all the more encouraging in the context of slowing growth in global manufacturing. The latter is part of what’s casting clouds around international GDP growth expectations, going into 2019," said BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert. 

He noted, however, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business opinion "registered a tone of struggle" regarding manufacturing output during the past three months. As a result "there are still elements of caution there," he said. 

(BusinessDesk)



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report