In its report for August, the National Association of Purchasing Management (NAPM) stated that manufacturing declined for the 13th consecutive month during the month.

However, it also said the rate of decline was markedly slower than it had been in previous months. This was evidenced by the association’s index of business activity which climbed to 47.9 from the 43.6 recorded in July – a big improvement on the 44.0 that economists had been predicting. There was even some good news directly related to the leather industry. It was one of seven out of a total of 20 industries tracked by the association to report growth during the month.

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