SA's manufacturing activity firmly in contractionary territory in May

THE Absa Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) released on Monday indicated that the seasonally adjusted PMI decreased by 1.6 points to 43.1 in May 2025. Absa said that the PMI remained in contractionary territory for a seventh consecutive month.

- YOGASHEN PILLAY

The PMI suggests that the manufacturing sector continued to suffer in May, despite some flickers of activity and demand improvement, albeit at extremely low levels. "However, a decline in the supplier deliveries index pushed the headline PMI lower. The business activity index indicated some improvement, increasing by 3.4 points to 43.4 in May. New sales orders also increased, by 2.2 points to 38.3 in May. This was likely due to domestic demand recovering slightly as export sales continued to deteriorate at a rapid rate."

Absa said the supplier deliveries index has been tricky to interpret since the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Across the globe, the traditional signal of an increase being positive (with the index being inverted, so slower deliveries are seen as a positive sign as they are caused by increased demand for supplies) was no longer valid, as supply-chain bottlenecks and delays, and not higher demand, caused slower deliveries." The purchasing price index decreased by 7.9 points to 60.4 in May due to fuel price cuts at the start of the month.

"A lower Brent crude oil price and a stronger rand, despite the fuel levy increase, bode well for further fuel price declines at the start of this month."