World manufacturing output grew 2.7% in third quarter —UNIDO

The United Nations Industrial development Organization (UNIDO) has released its international industrial statistical database on world manufacturing output for the third quarter of 2015, saying it grew by 2.7 per cent.

 

In Africa manufacturing output rose by just 0.1 per cent.

In the report, Shyam Upadhyaya, UNIDO Chief Statistician, said the organisation regularly releases the statistics on current growth trends of global manufacturing at country and regional level, adding that for the first time in recent years, the growth trend in industrialized economies was upward compared to declining trend in developing and emerging industrial economies.

Said the report: “Manufacturing output grew by 1.5 per cent in industrialized economies, up from 0.9 per cent in previous quarter. In developing and emerging industrial economies, the growth rate dropped to 5.0 per cent, down from 5.3 per cent in previous quarter.

“Eurozone industrialized countries have further improved their growth thanks to an increase in commodity export prompted by lower energy costs and the depreciation of the euro against major world currencies. By contrast, manufacturing in the United States was upset by a stronger dollar and a consequent loss of exports.

“Lower growth was observed in East Asian industrialized economies, especially in Japan where manufacturing output fell by 0.4 per cent in third quarter of 2015. In contrast, manufacturing output rose in Malaysia and the Republic of Korea.

“Among the developing and emerging industrial economies, China’s manufacturing grew by 7.0 per cent, which was lower rate than previous quarter. China’s declining growth has raised concerns in other emerging industrial economies.

In Latin America, manufacturing output fell by 3.3 per cent. The largest loss was observed in Brazil, where in third quarter manufacturing output dropped by 11.0 percent. Declines in manufacturing output to lower extent were also observed  in other countries in the region, including Columbia and Peru.

Asian economies were less affected by China’s declining growth. India’s growth rate rose to 4.6 per cent in the third quarter compared to 3.7 per cent in the previous quarter. Similarly, manufacturing output rose in Indonesia by 4.2 per cent and in Vietnam by 12.5 per cent.

In terms of sectors, in industrialized countries production growth rates increased in high-technology sectors such as electric goods, communication equipment and motor vehicles.  The production of motor vehicles increased in major car producing countries of Europe, especially France, Germany and Italy, an indication of improving consumer spending on durable goods.

In Latin America, where there was low growth, the textile industry has been one of the badly affected sectors.”

By Franklin Alli, with agency report