However, a similar international manufacturing index is sitting at 48.1 points for August, having slumped to a more than three-year low as economies such as China, Australia and the United States slow, and because of declining levels of international trade.
Nationally, the monthly Business New Zealand performance of manufacturing index fell 2.2 points to 47.2, reflecting the lowest activity since November last year, while in Otago two consecutive months of contraction were replaced with 50.9 points.
Points below 50 denote contraction, and above that benchmark, expansionThe Central region again led New Zealand at 52.7 points, followed by Otago Southland's 50.9, but the two largest manufacturing regions both suffered large declines in activity with the Northern region on 45.4 and Canterbury Westland at 45.9.
Otago Southland Employers' Association chief executive John Scandrett said during the past three months there had been no option but to accept that sentiment on regional manufacturing in the South had been "firmly positioned on the negative side of the fence" and that activity was "considerably flat".
"There is, in August, new buoyancy within the production and new orders indicator comments and the finished stock-related remarks tend to confirm manufacturers must now lift factory-floor activity to match growing market demand," Mr Scandrett said in a statement yesterday.
While only "marginally" beyond the 50-point threshold, there were expansionary trends identified, including a reversal across the all-important supply and demand indicators.
"Previously, key manufacturers had production gearing set at levels that did not always align with the existing low and slow market demand. As a consequence, survey comments were heavy on negativity around the new orders and deliveries sub-indices," he said.
FIRST union general secretary Robert Reid claimed the employment figures in the index were the worst since July 2009, and confirmed workers' fears in the textile and wood processing sectors of a "jobs crisis" at hand; citing Goodman Fielder's proposal last week to close 18 of its 53 plants in Australia and New Zealand.
Manufacturing was New Zealand's third largest employing industry, and in the wake of recent redundancies and more on the way, he criticised the Government for not offering more input into monetary policy reform.
"Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing workers deserve better - a better response from the Government that 'there's nothing we can do'," Mr Reid said.
BNZ economist Doug Steel said, international concerns, including further signs of slowdown in China and Australia, are likely one reason behind the August result.
