According to the manufacturing index from Australian Industry Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the paper, printing and publishing (PPP) sub-sector recorded a monthly rise from 48 points to 57 in December.
AIG economist Sze-Young Lim explained that anything above 50 indicated an expansion in activity, and said the improvement in the PPP sector was due to an increase in orders from retailers and corporate customers.
However, Lim cautioned against reading too much into the nine-point rise. He said it was better to focus on trends, as the numbers were volatile and often produced large month-to-month changes.
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I’d rather know how that jump from 48 points to 57 correlates to previous years. Sprouting figures, then cautioning about those same numbers makes the 2 minutes i spent reading it completely worthless. Give us some historic reference at least!