The food packaging side of Progressive Plastics, which she runs with her husband Peter, has been more active than the plastic PVC pipe and pipe-fitting side of their business.
The latest Performance of Manufacturing survey, released yesterday, showed while manufacturing contracted in every region of the country, Otago-Southland declined the least, and the food and beverage sector was in the strongest position.
Mrs Anstey said sales of drainage pipe and pipe fittings to Queenstown had declined, in line with reduced building activity; but Fonterra's expansion at its Edendale milk-processing factory had generated some extra business, and the firm hoped to benefit from the Government's new infrastructure investment.
Manufacturing packaging for the meat industry had taken on a greater emphasis, due in part to the sector being in the peak of the season, but also from a conscious push to increase that business.
"You just carry on," Mrs Anstey said.
The company employs six permanent and four part-time staff, and she said the couple were carefully watching costs to make sure they were efficient.
A full-time worker who retired last October had not been replaced, she said.
Mrs Anstey said while southern businesses were not immune from economic recession, they tended not to have the extreme boom-and-bust cycles of those in the north.
