Manufacturing kicks off strong start to 2021

Manufacturing kicks off strong start to 2021
Staff reporters
The BNZ-BusinessNZ performance of manufacturing index roared back to life in January, coming in at 57.5 versus the 48.3 it hit in December.“The January result was a welcome start to 2021, with the result clearly above the long-term average of 53.0 for the Index,” said BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing, Catherine Beard. A reading of 50 separates expanding activity from contraction. BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said the improvement was “also encouraging in its composition.”New orders led the...