New Zealand’s manufacturing sector experienced almost identical levels of expansion as August, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) for October.
The seasonally adjusted PMI for October was 55.2 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 2.3 points lower from September, and the third time in four months activity has been in the 55 point range. The sector remains solidly in expansion in almost all months since October 2012.
BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that results over most of 2016 have been in a fairly consistent zone of expansion.
“The headline result for the first 10 months of 2016 shows expansion only varying by 2.8 points, with most months seesawing between the 55 and 57 point range. At this stage 2016 is shaping up as better than 2015 for the sector, although the next two months will determine the extent to which the sector can keep momentum going to provide healthy levels of expansion”.
BNZ Senior Economist, Craig Ebert, said that “although the PMI couldn’t quite hang onto its relatively high level of 57.5 in September, at 55.2 in October it was still handsomely positive – certainly well above its long-term average of 53.2”.
