Absa Manufacturing Survey

Inflation expectations
Manufacturing
Retail
Other services
Building and construction

Absa Manufacturing Survey

The Absa Manufacturing Survey is a brisk quarterly report on the results and implications of the latest BER survey of manufacturing firms. Released in advance of official indicators of activity, it provides reliable and up-to-date information on current trends and valuable perspectives on the outlook for the sector.

Apart from business confidence, the survey data highlights current and expected trends in business conditions, domestic as well as export sales volumes, production volumes, the number of factory workers, input costs and selling prices, fixed investment and stock levels.

The survey covers the various important manufacturing subsectors as well as the main provinces (Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng).

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Manufacturing Survey 2026Q1

Date Uploaded: March 17 2026 09:00


Following a welcome uptick in the fourth quarter of 2025 (2025Q4), the latest Absa Manufacturing Survey reflected a renewed decline in manufacturing business confidence. Sentiment slipped from 39 to 30 index points in 2026Q1, again falling below its long-term average. The decline in sentiment is in line with a deterioration across many underlying indicators, though there are some silver linings, particularly in the forward-looking fixed investment indicators.