UK manufacturing output fell in April

Posted on 12 Jun 2013 by The Manufacturer

The UK's manufacturing output fell by 0.2% month-on-month in April following the previous month's rise of 1.1%.

The report published by the Office for National Statistics showed manufacturing output for February-April was up 0.5% on the preceding three months.

This was an improvement on the 0.3% quarter-on-quarter fall in manufacturing output in the opening three months of this year, but manufacturing output in April fell 0.5% on a year earlier.

The broader industrial production industries, which include mining and quarrying, oil and gas extraction, and electricity, gas and water supply as well as manufacturing output, rose by 0.1% month-on-month in April.

Samuel Tombs, UK economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said the figures “suggested that a modest industrial recovery is getting under way”, but questioned how long this would last.

Lee Hopley, of the manufacturers’ organisation EEF, added: “We are still looking at a pick-up in activity across UK manufacturing through the second half of this year.”