The manufacturing sector in New Zealand dropped into contraction territory in August, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Friday with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 49.9.
That's down from 52.8 in July and it falls beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Individually, production (46.6), employment (49.1) and finished stocks (47.1) contracted, while deliveries (50.5) and new orders (55.2) expanded.