New Zealand BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing dropped sharply to 53.4 in February, down -4.6 pts from 58.0. Looking at some details, production dropped from 59.3 to 57.3. Employment dropped from 56.1 to 49.8. New orders tumbled from 62.8 to 56.2.
“Despite the PMI remaining in expansion, the proportion of those outlining negative comments stood at 54%, compared with 46% in January.  Given the second recent partial lockdown, it remains to be seen what impact this will have on the sector over the next few months,” said BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard.
BNZ Senior Economist, Craig Ebert said that “supply issues were to the fore from respondents’ comments to February’s PMI survey.  Of those citing negative factors, supply rather than demand problems dominated, with frequent references to supply chains, shipping, freight, costs, and difficulties in finding suitable staff.”
