Growth in New Zealand manufacturing speeds up

Xinhua News Agency

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New Zealand's manufacturing sector continued its accelerated growth last month, according to the latest performance of manufacturing index (PMI) out Friday.

The BNZ-Business New Zealand PMI for November was 54.7 -- on a scale where above 50 indicates expansion and below 50 contraction -- which was 1.5 points higher than October.

It continued a straight run of expansion that began in October 2012.

Business New Zealand executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said the November result continued the positive trend for the sector, with new orders and employment sub-indices both at their highest levels since June.

"A number of comments centerd on seasonal factors at play, although others mentioned good customer demand, both domestically and offshore," Beard said in a statement.

BNZ senior economist Doug Steel said in the statement that the PMI affirmed "our thinking that the economy has grown a bit faster in the second half of 2015 than it did in the first half."

A BNZ report on manufacturing in the quarter to the end of September, which accompanied the PMI, suggested that the growth might be attributed to record highs in net migration and ultra-low interest rates.

Reasonable strength in some primary sectors was partly offsetting the drag from a weak dairy sector, it said.