According to the preliminary data released by Statistics South Africa, in January this year the country's manufacturing output rose by 3.9 percent compared to the same month of 2012, while the seasonally adjusted manufacturing production is estimated to have increased by two percent compared to December 2012.
However, these increases were partially counteracted by a number of decreases and mainly by the basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products and machinery division. The seasonally adjusted production of basic iron and steel products in South Africa decreased by 4.9 percent year on year in January, while the actual production index of basic iron and steel products saw an increase of 2.9 percent compared to December 2012. Meanwhile, South Africa's motor vehicle production in January increased by 17 percent compared to the same month of the previous year.
For basic iron and steel products, the estimated seasonally adjusted sales of manufactured products (at current prices) in January increased by 0.9 percent month on month, amounting to ZAR 8.3 billion ($907 million).