Europe remains a key export market for locally produced goods and unemployment in the region rose to a record level last November as the Europe's financial crisis and tougher austerity measures deepened the economic woes for the local producers.
Lower domestic and international demand, coupled with strikes for higher wages by workers in the third quarter of last year, had negatively affected South African manufacturers' output.
Despite these problems, Jennings said on Tuesday (8 January) "that the worst is over."
"I want to be optimistic because the last three months of last year were much better. We also saw the PMI (purchasing managers' index) edging towards 50," Jennings said. Any figure below 50 on the PMI signals a contraction in manufacturing output.
But Jennings said manufacturers were not optimistic about job prospects this year - a blow for South Africa's 4.7m unemployed people. "I do not see us generating a large number of jobs this year because there is already a lot of spare capacity and, of course, there's the threat of ever-increasing imports," he said.
Despite remaining below the desired 50-index-point level, the Kagiso PMI rose by 2.4 points in November to 49.5.
Figures due out this Thursday (10 January) are expected to show that manufacturing showed some modest gains in November, supported mainly by a weaker rand and the conclusion of strikes in those sectors linked to manufacturing.
Progress in growing the sector this year would depend on a weakening of the rand, resolving the eurozone crisis, and ado[ting measures to curb cheap imports into South Africa.
The outlook for SA's main trading partners - including the US and the eurozone - is for sluggish growth and a slow economic recovery, which does not bode well for South African manufacturers.
Eurozone gross domestic product is expected to contract by 2.5% this year and 1% next year, according to research by Capital Economics.
This suggests that demand for imported products in the region is likely to remain subdued, which bodes ill for sectors of the local economy that rely heavily on export revenue.
"The major risk facing the South African economy at the moment is the crisis in Europe," Frost & Sullivan economist Craig Parker said on Tuesday (8 January). "We have strong trade relations with Europe, but our financial ties to global markets make us vulnerable.
"This has resulted in us showing very slow growth in 2012 compared with other African countries," he said.
Parker forecast that the South African economy would grow at about 3% to 3.1% this year. Statistics SA has yet to release growth figures for last year, but expectations are that the economy grew by about 2.5%.
"Africa is very important for us because it offers a lot of opportunities. Many of our manufacturers have already started penetration into Africa," Jennings said.
Manufacturers are also set to continue their fight against the high electricity tariffs likely to come into effect later this year. The Manufacturing Circle believes that the tariff increase should be linked to the country's inflation rate.
Eskom has applied for tariffs to be increased by 16% a year over the next three years.
The National Energy Regulator of SA will conduct public hearings on the application from next Tuesday (15 January).
Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge
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