Manufacturing crisis spiralling – Seifsa

The “crisis” faced by the metals and engineering sector was likely to continue unabated, with any short-term improvements recorded likely to dissipate, the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) said this week. A 7% year-on-year decline in production during the first quarter of the year and a 5% overall drop over a one-year period indicated that the sector was “spiralling into a deeper crisis” than previously thought, said Seifsa chief economist Henk Langenhoven.