New export opportunities opening up
The manufacturing sector overall is looking increasingly resilient, having coped with a high NZ dollar through improved productivity. – Catherine Beard, Executive Director, MaufacturingNZ As we near the end of 2015, it’s encouraging to note that New Zealand’s manufacturing sector is continuing its expansionary path and new export opportunities are opening up. At the time of writing this, the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) results were from October 2015, and the seasonally adjusted PMI was 53.3 (above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding). Although this was 1.7 points lower than September, the level of expansion was still healthy. The sector has now been in continued expansion since October 2012. While a lot of the expansion can be attributed to the Christchurch rebuild and a catch-up of building and construction investment in the Auckland region, the manufacturing sector overall is looking increasingly resilient, having coped with a high NZ dollar through improved productivity. We have also seen consistent expansion from other sectors such as food and beverage. The high New Zealand dollar has allowed many manufacturers to invest in new plant and equipment and has encouraged manufacturers to move away from competing on price and to invest in innovation and quality to stand out from the competition. The monthly PMI survey has been a great way of keeping track of the industry trend, with comment and input direct from Kiwi manufacturers themselves. We are grateful for the BNZ’s ongoing support of this important exercise and to all the manufacturers around New Zealand who fill in the 5 minute survey every month. Another survey that helps us keep a good handle on New Zealand’s manufacturing performance is the annual ExportNZ survey, in the field in August-September. The majority of respondents (49%) identified themselves as manufacturers. The main […]