Manufacturing production continued to decline further; this was according to Stats SA in their release for May on Thursday
Manufacturing production continued to decline in May, by 4,3% over the same period a year before, a figure worse than what economists had expected.
“The largest negative contributions were made by • food and beverages (-6,4% and contributing -1,6 percentage points); • basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery (-5,6% and contributing -1,3 percentage points); and • wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing (-11,0% and contributing -1,0 percentage point),” Statistics SA said on Thursday.
Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production increased by 1,1% in May 2026 compared with April 2026. Over the three months t end-May 2026, seasonally adjusted manufacturing production decreased by 1,0% compared with the previous quarter.
Professor Simphiwe Madikizela, an economist at the University of South Africa (Unisa), said that this is a concern for the sector that has been battling in the previous quarters due to the structural challenges and constraints in the logistics sector, in the ports and rail network infrastructure, as well as rising electricity prices and other costs of doing business.
