The volume of goods produced by South African factories fell 2.7% in October from the same month in 2015, Statistics SA reported on Thursday. Stats SA’s manufacturing volume index came in at 115 points in October, down from 118.2 points the previous year. Manufacturing data was Thursday’s second blow to hopes of SA’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product showing an improvement from the third-quarter’s 0.2% growth. Stats SA earlier reported mining production fell 2.9% in October from the same month the previous year. Measured by value, South African factories sold R181.5bn worth of goods in October, 3.5% higher than the R175.3bn sold in October 2015, and 0.3% higher than the R181bn sold in September. Stats SA revised September’s figure to show a 0.2% annual growth in manufacturing volume from the provisionally reported zero percent. The main contributors to October’s manufacturing volume decline were food and beverages which fell 7.3% from the previous year, transport equipment which...
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