The manufacturing sector in New Zealand continued to contract in April, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.1.
That's up from 48.1 in March, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Among the individual categories of the survey, production (47.0), employment (47.8) and new orders (49.8) continued to contract, while deliveries (51.5) and finished stocks (52.5) expanded.
"New Zealand's PMI may be soft, but it is broadly in line with the 49.6 reading for the global equivalent in April. The latter reflects sub-50 readings to various degrees in each of the US, EU, UK, Australia, Japan, and China," BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel stated.
