New Zealand’s manufacturing sector recorded its highest month of expansion for 2015 in December, according to the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).
The seasonally adjusted PMI for December was 56.7 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 1.8 points higher than November, and the highest level of expansion since October 2014. The sector has now been in continued expansion since October 2012.
BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the December result was an encouraging way to end the year.
“Overall, it has been a solid and positive year for the sector. Although the PMI averaged 54.2 over 2015 compared with 56.0 for both 2013 and 2014, the slightly lower expansion level was partly due to the first half of 2015 experiencing a moderate patch of growth. However, results over the last few months have seen the sector in stronger expansion.
BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said “as well as for its outright strength, New Zealand’s PMI remains notable for the way it keeps defying the struggle that global manufacturing continues to undergo”.
