New Zealand's manufacturing sector saw a slower rate of expansion during February, according to the latest BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).

The seasonally adjusted PMI for February was 53.4 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).  This was down 4.6 points from January.

BusinessNZ's executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the February result was more in line with the long term average of the PMI (53.0).

"The major sub-index values were all down from January, with Production (57.3) leading the way, followed by New Orders (56.2).  Both Employment (49.8) and Deliveries (47.6) remained in contraction, with the former reverting back to levels seen in December."

"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."

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."

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