According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa, in March this year the country's manufacturing output fell by 2.2 percent compared to the same month of 2012, while the seasonally adjusted manufacturing production is estimated to have decreased by 2.5 percent compared to February. Seasonally adjusted manufacturing production for the first quarter of the current year decreased by 2.2 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2012 and was down by 0.7 percent year on year.
The year-on-year decline in March this year was mainly due to the nine percent decrease in the production of basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery. The production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa decreased by 21.1 percent year on year in March, while the seasonally adjusted production index of basic iron and steel products saw a decrease of 4.1 percent compared to February.
For basic iron and steel products, the estimated seasonally adjusted sales of manufactured products (at current prices) in March decreased by 4.3 percent month on month, amounting to ZAR 8.25 billion ($910.7 million).
In the first quarter of the year, South Africa's basic iron and steel production declined 16.7 percent, while the estimated sales value fell 1.4 percent to ZAR 25.5 billion ($2.8 billion), both compared to the same quarter of 2012.