June factory output up 0.5% year-on-year

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's manufacturing production unexpectedly grew by 0.5 percent year-on-year in volume terms in June after contracting by a revised 3.8 percent in May, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.

On a month-on-month basis, factory production was up 1.4 percent, but fell 0.4 percent in the three months to June compared with the previous three months.

Economists polled by Reuters expected factory output to contract by 2.1 percent year-on-year in June and by 1 percent on a month-on-month basis.