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Confirming that the South African economy had “struggled” to fully recover after the 2009 recession, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) statistician-general Pali Lehohla said on Monday that the manufacturing industry was a sector not immune to the downturn, having contracted by 4.4% in the first three months of this year.
Between September 2006 and March 2014, the sector shed 188 000 employees, or 14% of its workforce, as it battled competition from cheap imports and as a result of widespread strikes.
Stats SA’s physical volume of manufacturing production index, which used a base of 100 index points, showed that, between 2006 and 2014, the sector's output was hardest hit by strikes, with the index pushed to around 95 points in July 2011 and 100 in September 2013.
The July 2011 industrial action by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa appeared to have a more profound effect on output from the basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery subsector, which shrank to around 90 index points.
Production from the automotive subsector, meanwhile, saw its largest output contraction on the back of a strike in September 2013, dropping to 55 index points.
“In addition, between 2011 and 2014, production capacity in the automotive industry was not fully exploited, with 19% of the sector’s capacity being underutilised in February 2014,” Lehohla said.