The manufacturing sector in New Zealand fell back into contraction territory in June, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Friday with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 48.7.
That's down sharply from the downwardly revised 52.6 in May (originally 52.9) and is falls beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction for the first time in nine months.
Among the individual components, deliveries (51.7) and employment (51.2) expanded, while finished stocks (50.0) were stagnant and production and new orders (both 47.8) contracted.
