MANUFACTURING production grew by a healthy 5.9% in September, and should gain further support over the coming months from the weaker exchange rate of the rand, according to the latest release from Statistics SA. However domestically, high oil prices and a potential change in the direction of interest rates may weaken local support for production. According to Rashika Lalla, SA economics researcher for Standard Bank, one worrying indication of manufacturing production is the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which has gradually been softening. The index, which is generally used as a leading indicator for manufacturing production, dropped from 60.3 in July to 54.1 in October.
