New Zealand's manufacturing expansion continued its downward trend, according to the latest BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).

The seasonally adjusted PMI for July was 51.2 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 1.5 points lower than June, and the third consecutive month where expansion has weakened.

BusinessNZ's executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that the July result produced a few red flags in terms of where the manufacturing sector currently sits.