SA manufacturing sector records sharp decline in August
South Africa’s manufacturing sector has recorded a significant decline in August.
Stats SA data shows that manufacturing declined by 4.3% in August, compared to the same time last year.
Stats SA Director of Industry Statistics, Nicolai Claassen, says local manufacturing production lost momentum in August, with nine of the 10 manufacturing divisions recording a fall in activity.
The largest contributors were the petroleum, chemical products, and rubber and plastic products divisions.
“On a month-on-month basis, seasonally adjusted manufacturing production decreased by 3.1% in August 2026 compared with July 2026.
This is the sharpest month-on-month decline since May 2024, when production weakened by 4.1%,” says Claassen.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.sabcnews.com — the content belongs to SABC News South Africa.
