New Zealand’s manufacturing sector again showed increased expansion in September, according to the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).
The seasonally adjusted PMI for September was 55.4 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 0.3 points higher than August, and the highest level of activity since February of this year.
BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the continued upwards movement in overall manufacturing activity was assisted by healthy levels of both production and new orders.
“Production was at its highest level since December last year, while new orders continued to improve. Overall, this should flow through into healthy results for the last quarter of the year”.
“In addition, the proportion of positive comments for September (58.7%) picked up slightly from August (57.2%), with comments typically focused on a more competitive New Zealand dollar, continued growth in new customers and standard seasonal factors at play”.
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said the September PMI was very robust, especially sales and activity wise – a plus for economic growth through the second half of 2015. Something to watch is talk of some cost pressure appearing.
