Improvement in manufacturing business activity welcomed
The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) has welcomed the continued improvement in overall business activity in the manufacturing sector, as reflected in the Absa Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for February.
Seifsa economist Marique Kruger explained that the data showed that the PMI improved from 49.9 in January to 50.8 in February.
This, she noted, was the first time since May 2017 that the indicator trended above the neutral level of 50, which was very encouraging for companies in the metals and engineering sector.
“The PMI is an important lead indicator that sets the tone for how producers and relevant stakeholders in the manufacturing sector view the month ahead. “The performance of the index can partly be attributed to improved business confidence in light of the growing optimism and business confidence following recent political developments in the country,” Kruger explained.
In terms of the various subindices, the strongest performer was the new sales orders subindex, which registered 52.7 in February, compared with 50.4 in January, while the weakest performer was the inventories subindex, which registered 44.9 in February, from 47.3 in January.
Kruger further said the federation expected next month’s data for the composite PMI indicator to improve further, provided that business confidence continued its positive trajectory.
In addition, she said Seifsa, which has a combined membership of 1 600 companies, was also hopeful that businesses in the metals and engineering sector would take advantage of the general buoyancy, improving business prospects and positive expectations to increase production.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
