South Africa Factory Output Contracts 3.6%

South Africa’s manufacturing output shrunk 3.6% year-on-year in February, a worse number than the market expected, after expanding by a revised 0.4% in January, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast manufacturing volumes would contract by 0.1% year-on-year in February. On a month-on-month basis, factory production contracted 0.4% and was down 0.8% in the three months to February compared with the previous three months.