New Zealand BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index rose to 51.3 in June, up from 50.4. BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that while the sector avoided further deterioration in activity from May, there were still a number of concerns about manufacturing’s current state of play.
She said: “The key sub-indexes of production (51.0) and new orders (52.8) recovered from May, which ensured the sector didn’t fall into contraction for June.  However,  employment (48.0) worsened to its lowest level since August 2016, while deliveries of raw materials (48.9) also fell into negative territory for the first time since December 2017, and its lowest result since September 2012.
