According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa (SSA), in December last year South Africa's manufacturing output decreased by two percent compared to the same month of 2015.
In December, the production of basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery increased by three percent on year-on-year basis. In the given month, the production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa fell by 1.9 percent, while the production of structural metal products declined by 13.3 percent, both on year-on-year basis. As compared with November, in December last year the production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa decreased by 6.7 percent and production of structural metal products fell by 5.4 percent.
For basic iron and steel products, the estimated seasonally adjusted sales of manufactured products (at current prices) in December last year increased by 0.8 percent month on month, amounting to ZAR 9.84 billion ($749.52 million).