Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has reported that manufacturing production decreased by 2.9% year-on-year in April.

The largest negative contributor was basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery that weakened by 6% year-on-year, subtracting 1.4 percentage points from overall growth.

Wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing production decreased by 10%, contributing -1 percentage point, while motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment manufacturing declined by 11% year-on-year, contributing -0.9 of a percentage point.

Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production decreased by 2.7% month-on-month in April. This followed month-on-month changes of 1.2% in March and -1.8% in February.

Stats SA industry statistics director Nicolai Claassen says this is the largest monthly decrease since May 2024 when production weakened by 4.1%.

Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production decreased by 1.3% in the three months ended April compared with the previous three months. Six of the ten manufacturing divisions reported negative growth rates over this period.

The petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products declined by 3.5%, contributing -0.8 of a percentage point, while the wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing division declined by 3.4% and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point.

Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales increased month-on-month by 0.7% in April compared with March. This followed month-on-month changes of 2.2% in March and 0% in February.

Seasonally adjusted manufacturing sales increased by 2.3% in the three months ended April compared with the previous three months.

The largest positive contributions were made by the basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division which increased by 5.7% and contributed 1.2 percentage points, and the motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment division twhich increased by 7.1% and contributed 0.9 of a percentage point.