The manufacturing sector has continued to expand in August although at a slightly slower rate than in July.
The BNZ-Business New Zealand Performance of Manufacturing Index fell to 52.9 from 53.2 the previous month.
A reading above 50 suggests the sector is expanding.
Business New Zealand director of manufacturing Catherine Beard says the sector is enjoying a sustained period of growth.
She says while activity in the fuel and coal sector has continued to decline, metal product manufacturing has had its best result since November last year.
The South Island was doing particularly well, Ms Beard says, with manufacturing in Otago/Southland strong at 61.8 and Canterbury/Westland on a healthy 57.
She says an important statistic in measuring the health of manufacturing is the indice of new orders and that is looking reasonably good on 54.3.