Recent growth could be early indications of a turnaround for New Zealand manufacturers. Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Manufacturers may be seeing light at the end of the tunnel with early indications of an increase in economic activity for the first time in two years.
The third quarter Unleashed Manufacturing report indicates sales revenue and purchase orders saw average quarter on quarter growth of 6.2 percent, with sales revenues up 10 percent.
Unleashed head of product Jarrod Adam said the growth could be early indications of a turnaround for New Zealand manufacturers.
"This is the first time we have seen purchase orders rise in over a year and a half, which points to the difficult situation that many local manufacturers have been in of late."
He said tracking purchase orders was a useful predictor of future revenue, however orders were still down 26 percent on the same quarter in 2021.
"Our expectation is that positive metrics will increase as these orders are filled and higher sales volumes normalise."
Manufacturers supplying the building and construction industry saw average quarter on quarter sales revenue rise 7 percent, while the personal care sector saw sales revenue growth of 52 percent.
The struggling beverage sector was also seeing a strong turnaround with average sales revenues up 10 percent quarter on quarter.
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