Income

The total income for the manufacturing industry in 2017 was R2 599,4 billion. The total income represents an increase of 7,2% annualised over the income reported in the corresponding survey of 2014 (R2 112,5 billion). Comparing 2014 and 2017, large increases were reported for ‘food products and beverages’ (+R168,4 billion), ‘transport equipment’ (+R133,2 billion) and ‘metals, metal products, machinery and equipment’ (+R63,2 billion). However, there were decreases in ‘coke, petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic’ (-R20,2 billion) and ‘electrical machinery and apparatus’ (-R1,6 billion).

Profit margin

The profit margin for the manufacturing industry was 5,5% in 2017. ‘Food products and beverages’ had the highest profit margin at 12,0%, followed by ‘furniture, other manufacturing and recycling’ at 6,2%, ‘wood, wood products, paper, publishing and printing’ at 5,7% and ‘coke, petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic’ at 5,1%. ‘Glass and other non-metallic mineral products’ had the lowest profit margin at 1,3%.

Employment

The total number of persons employed in the manufacturing industry as at the end of June 2017 was 1 180 274. The ‘metals, metal products, machinery and equipment’ division employed the largest number of persons (247 894 or 20,9%), followed by ‘food products and beverages’ (224 362 or 19,0%), ‘coke, petroleum, chemical products, rubber and plastic’ (180 304 or 15,3%) and ‘wood, wood products, paper, publishing and printing’ (135 099 or 11,4%).