Manufacturing production decreased by 1.7% in June compared with June 2025, but increased by 0.9% compared with May, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports.

May saw a 1% month-on-month improvement following a 2.6% month-on-month decline in April.

The main negative contributors to the June reading include wood and wood products, paper, publishing and printing, which declined by 8.9% year-on-year and contributed 0.9 percentage point to the decline in the June reading.

Additionally, motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment declined by 5.3% compared with June 2025 and contributed a 0.4 percentage point decline to the June reading.

Food and beverages also decreased, by 3.9% year-on-year and contributed a one percentage point decline to the June figure.

Further, manufacturing production in the second quarter of the year decreased by 1.5% compared with the first quarter of the year, with seven of the ten manufacturing divisions having reported negative growth rates over this period.

The main contributors to the quarter-on-quarter decline include furniture and other manufacturing, which declined by 9.3% compared with the first quarter and contributed 0.4 of a percentage point to the decline in the quarter-on-quarter reading.

Food and beverages declined by 3% compared to the first quarter and contributed 0.8 of a percentage point to the decline in the quarter-on-quarter reading, while basic iron and steel, nonferrous metal products, metal products and machinery declined by 1.2% quarter-on-quarter and contributing 0.3 of a percentage point to the decline in the second quarter reading.

Meanwhile, manufacturing sales decreased by 1.6% in June compared with May. This followed month-on-month changes of a 1.5% month-on-month decline in May and a 0.7% month-on-month improvement in April.

Second-quarter manufacturing sales increased by 0.6% compared with the first quarter.

The largest positive contributions were made by the petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic products division, which saw a 5% quarter-on-quarter improvement and contributed 1.1 percentage points to the second-quarter figure.

The motor vehicles, parts and accessories and other transport equipment division recorded a 4.3% quarter-on-quarter improvement in the sales reading and contributed 0.6 of a percentage point to the quarter-on-quarter improvement.