Johannesburg - South Africa’s manufacturing output
contracted by 2.7% year-on-year in volume terms in March, well below
expectations, from a slightly downwardly revised 4.0% in February, Statistics
South Africa said on Thursday.
Economists had expected factory output to grow by 3.3% on an
annual basis in March.
On a month-on-month basis, production in volume terms fell
by a seasonally adjusted 4.3%, but grew by 1.9% in the three months to March
compared with the previous three months.