New Zealand’s manufacturing sector experienced a pick-up in expansion during November, according to the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).
The seasonally adjusted PMI for November was 55.3 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was up 2.9 points from October, and the highest level of expansion since July.
BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the sector has now remained in positive territory for the sixth consecutive month, despite swings in the actual activity levels.
“The key indices of production (55.4) and new orders (57.6) both displayed healthy levels of expansion during November, while employment (51.5) eased back to September levels. Interestingly, finished stocks (59.0) recorded its highest value since the survey began, which may be due to COVID related delayed activity and distribution issues that has plagued 2020.”
“Overall, the sector is shaping up to end 2020 on a positive note, which would be a considerable contrast to what was seen during the first half of the year.”
BNZ Senior Economist, Doug Steel said that “as a measure of change, the PMI suggests that the manufacturing sector continues to move in the right direction after getting hit hard earlier in the year by COVID related restrictions.”
