Thebe Mabanga
Manufacturing production fell by 2 % in January this year compared with January 2019, Stats South Africa reported on Thursday.
The decline was due to wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing which fell 6.7%, motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment fell 5.6% while textiles, clothing, leather and footwear fell 10.3%.
Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production, which takes into account seasonal factors such as the holiday season, increased by 2.5% in January 2020, compared with December 2019.
This followed monthly declines of 3,0% in December 2019 and 1,8% in November 2019.
Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production in the quarter ending in January 2020 fell by 1.8% compared with the previous quarter with eight of the ten manufacturing divisions reporting decline over this period.
The only division to show positive growth was the petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products division which grew at 1.4%.
