Manufacturing production down 0.7% in July [SOUND]

# Statistics South Africa says manufacturing production fell by 0.7% in July compared with the same month last year. The declines were mainly in iron, steel, metal products, and wood industries. Month-on-month, production dropped 0.5-percent, but over the three months to July, it rose 2.5-percent, led by food, chemicals, and motor vehicles. Stats SA’s Nicolai Claassen says manufacturing sales fell slightly by 0.3-percent in July, but grew 2.6-percent over the three-month period: