New Zealand manufacturing sector expanding for two full years

Wellington, Sep 12 (IANS) Manufacturing in New Zealand surged to its strongest level of activity in five months in August, according to the latest performance of manufacturing index (PMI) out on Friday.

The BNZ-Business New Zealand PMI for August was 56.5, on a scale on which a reading above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction, Xinhua reported.

The reading was three points higher than July, and showed the sector had been in expansion every month for the last two years.

Business New Zealand executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said the boost in expansion followed four months of more moderate growth.

"The rise in August was mainly due to a lift in both production and new orders, while two of the other three sub-indices also showed improvement. In fact, production was at its highest level since July 2013," Beard said in a statement.

The indices for industry sub-groups were mostly positive with petroleum, coal, chemical and associated products at 63.5, machinery and equipment at 52.3, and food, beverage and tobacco at 66.9, while metal products were in contraction at 49.2 for the first time since December 2013.