The manufacturing sector in New Zealand slipped into contraction territory in March, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Friday with a seasonally adjusted Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 48.1.
That's down from the downwardly revised 51.7 (originally 52.0) in February, and it moves beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Among the individual components, deliveries (53.8) expanded, but production (43.3), employment (47.1), new orders (46.7) and finished stocks (48.4) all contracted.
"Disappointing as New Zealand's March PMI was, it wasn't especially negative in longer term context. Neither was it much out of line with manufacturing readings across the world, of late," said BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert.
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