Growth in New Zealand manufacturing sector surges in last December

Growth in New Zealand's manufacturing sector surged to its highest level of 2015 in December, according to the latest performance of manufacturing index (PMI) out Thursday.

The BNZ-Business New Zealand PMI for December was 56.7 on a scale where above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction.

The level was 1.8 points higher than November, the highest level of expansion since October 2014, and continued a straight run of expansion that began in October 2012.

Business New Zealand executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said 2015 had been a solid and positive year for the sector.

"Although the PMI averaged 54.2 over 2015 compared with 56 for both 2013 and 2014, the slightly lower expansion level was partly due to the first half of 2015 experiencing a moderate patch of growth. However, results over the last few months have seen the sector in stronger expansion," Beard said in a statement.

BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said in the statement that New Zealand's PMI remained notable for the way it kept defying the struggle that global manufacturing continued to undergo.

The global PMI slowed to 50.9 in December 2015, after peaking at 57.4 in 2011 and hitting a low of 34.3 during the Global Financial Crisis.