South African industries are quite dependent on the manufacturing sector. The 2014 Input-Output tables imply, for example, that the construction sector requires a 1.13% expansion in manufacturing activity for a 1% expansion in construction activity. This means that changes in construction activity would be associated with large proportional changes in manufacturing activity. The largest contributions to these linkages to construction come from the structural metal, basic iron and steel and non-metal minerals manufacturing sectors. Unfortunately input-output tables are no longer produced by Statistics SA so such analysis cannot be easily updated as the structure of the economy evolves.
