Manufacturing in the Asia Pacific region is looking up after New Zealand became the third country to report rising manufacturing activity last month.
Manufacturing expanded for the fourth month in a row in February, according to the BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index.
China’s PMI continues to rise, recording growing manufacturing activity throughout the end of 2010 and this year.
China has recently overtaken the United States as the world’s largest manufacturing country.
Australia recorded growth in February, with the seasonally adjusted Australian Industry Group -PwC Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI) rising 4.4 points to 51.1.
Ai Group Chief Executive, Heather Ridout, said: "The welcome lift in the manufacturing index was largely off the back of a substantial improvement in the new order sub-index and those sub-indexes related to restocking. This suggests a more encouraging immediate outlook for the sector. While only reflecting a single month’s improvement, the result underlines the resilience of the sector in the face of extremely tough trading conditions and the impact of the strong dollar."
In New Zealand, economists are predicting economical growth across industries over the next three months, despite the Christchurch earthquake, a report from TVNZ.co.nz says.
Japan’s recent earthquakes will no doubt affect seriously Japan’s PMI. The country is responsible for manufacturing much of the world’s automobiles, electronics and appliances.
It will be interesting to see if surrounding countries pick-up some of Japan’s manufacturing business in the short-term.
Image courtesy of Topnews.net.nz
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