South Africa Manufacturing Output Grows Most In 8 Months

(RTTNews) - South Africa's manufacturing output expanded at the quickest pace in eight months in February, data from Statistics South Africa showed on Thursday.

Manufacturing production advanced 4.1 percent year-over-year in February, after a 2.9 percent increase in January. That was also faster than the 3.5 percent growth expected by economists.

Further, this was the biggest increase since June 2023, when output had grown 5.8 percent.

The positive contributions to the annual increase were wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing, food and beverages, petroleum, chemical products, rubber, and plastic products, the agency said.

On a monthly basis, manufacturing production dropped 0.3 percent from January, when it rebounded by 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, it was expected to increase by 0.4 percent.