According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa (SSA), in May this year South Africa's manufacturing output decreased by 1.4 percent compared to the same month of 2014. In the January-May period, South Africa's manufacturing output declined by 0.3 percent year on year.
The reasons for the year-on-year decrease in manufacturing output in May included the 5.8 percent decrease in output in the basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division and the 4.6 percent decrease in the petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products sector. In May, the production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa decreased by 12.3 percent, while the production of structural metal products fell by 1.9 percent, both on year-on-year basis. As compared with April, in May this year the production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa decreased by 9.3 percent and production of structural metal products was up by 4.7 percent.
For basic iron and steel products, the estimated seasonally adjusted sales of manufactured products (at current prices) in May this year increased by 7.8 percent month on month, amounting to ZAR 9.45 billion ($761 million).