New Zealand's manufacturing sector saw expansion continue to hover around expansion levels experienced over the last three months, according to the BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).

The seasonally adjusted PMI for June was 56.2 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 2.0 points lower than May, and similar to expansion levels seen in April. Overall, the sector has remained in expansion in all months since October 2012.

BusinessNZ's executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the last four months show the sector hovering around an expansion range between 56-58, which is still positive and healthy.

"Encouragingly new orders (58.7) continues to push forward with healthy expansion, followed by production (58.0). However, one noticeable dip was for employment (49.5), which went into minor contraction for the first time since November 2016.

"While expansion eased during June, the proportion of positive comments stood at 68.2%, compared 69.4% in May and 64.7% in April".

BNZ Senior Economist, Craig Ebert, said "that while it was always going to struggle to match its 58.2 level of May, at 56.2 in June the PMI was still nicely above average".

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