According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa (SSA), in July this year South Africa's manufacturing output increased by 5.6 percent compared to the same month of 2014. In the January-July period, South Africa's manufacturing output rose by 0.4 percent year on year.
The reasons for the year-on-year growth in manufacturing output in July included the 17.4 percent increase in output in the basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division. In July, the production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa increased by 16.2 percent, while the production of structural metal products grew by 32.5 percent, both on year-on-year basis. As compared with June, in July this year the production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa increased by 11.7 percent and production of structural metal products was up by 6.5 percent.
For basic iron and steel products, the estimated seasonally adjusted sales of manufactured products (at current prices) in July this year increased by 3.4 percent month on month, amounting to ZAR 9.1 billion ($576.6 million).