The manufacturing sector in New Zealand continued to contract in August, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Friday with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 46.1.
That's down from the upwardly revised 46.5 in July (originally 46.3). and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Among the individual components, finished stocks (52.1) expanded, while deliveries (47.7), production (43.9), employment (47.7) and new orders (46.6) all contracted.
"While the PMI headline result has been far worse during past recessions, the August result also loses points for its latest composition as New Orders and Production were the biggest drags, being 8.0 and 9.5 points below par, respectively," BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said.
