Manufacturing PMI Grew Slower Pace in July

• Manufacturing PMI Grew Slower Pace in July

Activities in the Nigerian manufacturing sector grew slower than expected in the month of July.

The manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 56.8 in the month, down from the 57 filed in June, the data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday showed. The PMI has now expanded for the sixteenth consecutive month.

Out of the 14 subsectors surveyed by the apex bank, 13 grew in the reviewed month in the following order: petroleum and coal products, printing and related support activities, paper products, electrical equipment, primary metal, furniture and related products, nonmetallic mineral products, transportation equipment, textile, apparel, leather and footwear, chemical and pharmaceutical products, food, beverage & tobacco products, cement, and fabricated metal products. The Plastics and rubber products subsector declined in the review month.

Production in the manufacturing sector expanded by 59 in the month, but lower than the previous month and has sustained growth for the last seventeenth months. Twelve of the 14 manufacturing subsectors expanded in the month of July, while the 2 remaining was unchanged.

New orders grew at 55.8, indicating a surge in demands in July. Again, 12 of the 14 subsectors reported growth while two contracted in the month under review.

Job creation rose in the sector, growing at 55.0. The fifteenth consecutive month of growth.