Manufacturing showed solid growth in the December quarter of 2017, with total manufacturing improving 1.8% on December 2016, while manufacturing excluding meat and dairy saw an impressive 3.2% growth on the December 2016 quarter.

“This was a great way to end 2017 for manufacturing, which when excluding meat and dairy, experienced consistent growth throughout 2017 on the previous year in Statistics New Zealand’s Economic Survey of Manufacturing, released yesterday. This ranged from a low of 1.4% growth in the September quarter, to a high of 3.9% growth in the March quarter.” says Mr Dieter Adam, CE, The Manufacturers’ Network.

“A range of subsectors of manufacturing experienced growth on 2016 in the December.  Chemical, polymer, and rubber product manufacturing showed a 5.2% growth on the same quarter in 2016, and wood and paper product manufacturing saw an increase of 3.3%.” he says.

“The high-value sector of transport equipment; machinery and equipment manufacturing experienced an increase of 3.1% on December 2016, coming off the back of an impressive result in the previous quarter – in September 2017, this sector increased 7.4% on the same quarter in 2016.

“These results are encouraging, and we will need to see how they will hold up during 2018.  There are some signs that the economy as a whole could be starting to cool, for example, the latest Truckometer data showing a fall in light and heavy traffic in February.

“Manufacturing has the potential to provide some much-needed growth if the rest of the economy does start to cool off somewhat.

“Manufacturing remains a vital contributor to New Zealand, in terms of the economic growth, exports it provides, and in the employment, it brings to our people.  We hope the new Government will continue to show a willingness to work with our industry to strengthen it and build on the vast opportunities we have into the future.” says Mr Adam.