PMI falls further in October as misery over economy worsens
October’s manufacturing purchasing managers index sank further instead of showing an expected small rise
SA factory bosses got even more pessimistic in October, with a monthly poll failing to show an expected small rise. The Absa manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) worsened to 42.4 points in October from September’s figure, which was revised up to 44.5 points from the originally reported 43.2 points.
A PMI figure below 50 points indicates a shrinking manufacturing sector. The monthly survey sponsored by Absa and done by Stellenbosch University’s Bureau of Economic Research (BER) tends to be a good predictor of the manufacturing production and sales figures that Statistics SA provides about two months later. “This suggests that the manufacturing sector got off to a poor start in the fourth quarter of the year. Unfortunately, purchasing managers also turned more pessimistic about business conditions going forward,” the BER said in its report on Thursday. The index tracking expected business conditions in six months’ time slumped to 41.7 index points, the lowest level sinc...
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