FX.co ★ South Africa Factory Sector Shrinks for 3rd Month

South Africa’s manufacturing output fell 0.7% year-on-year in January 2026, following a revised 1.5% decline in December and marking a third consecutive month of contraction. The largest negative contributions came from the wood and wood products, paper, publishing, and printing category (-11.0%, contributing -1.3 percentage points) and from basic iron and steel, non-ferrous metal products, metal products, and machinery (-5.7%, contributing -1.2 percentage points). On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, however, manufacturing production rose 1.5% in January, reversing a revised 1.3% decline recorded in December.