New Zealand's manufacturing sector saw expansion levels evenly spread across the five main indices during July, according to the BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).
 
The seasonally adjusted PMI for July was 55.4 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).  This was slightly lower than June, and similar to expansion levels seen in February.  Overall, the sector has remained in expansion in all months since October 2012.

BusinessNZ's executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that while the main result experienced a second consecutive dip in expansion levels, the make-up of the sub-indices made for interesting reading.
 
"Expansion across the five indices was very even for July, with the total difference between the lowest and highest results at only 1.2 points.  Of particular note was the highest level of expansion for employment (56.4) since September 2014, along with finished stocks (also at 56.4).  However, both production (56.0) and new orders (55.4) continued to slip in terms of expansion".   
 
"With expansion again easing during July, the proportion of positive comments dropped to 56.1%, compared with 68.2% in June and 69.4% in May".

BNZ Senior Economist, Doug Steel, said that "at 55.4 in July, the PMI remains firmly above its long term average of 53.3. It bodes well for manufacturing GDP growth to continue outperforming its long term average as it has for much of the past three years".

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