JOHANNESBURG, Feb 1 (Reuters) - South African
manufacturing activity remained in positive terrain in January,
as a decline in employment and new sales orders was offset by
growth in business activity and inventories, a survey showed on
Wednesday.
The seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers' Index
(PMI) was at 53.0 points in January, almost unchanged from 53.1
in December and remaining above the 50-point mark that separates
expansion from contraction.
The survey showed that the business activity index improved
in comparison to the previous month despite rolling power cuts,
which held back production and affected new sales orders.
"Should this translate into actual production growth, it
would be a promising start to the year for the struggling
sector," Absa said in a statement.
Absa added that continued activity growth would require a
sustained improvement in demand and most likely a move to less
intense stages of power outages.
Struggling state utility Eskom has implemented power cuts
every day this year, after a record number of days with outages
last year. On Tuesday, it ramped up power cuts to the highest
level on record.
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Olivia
Kumwenda-Mtambo)
