Factory output posts only weak rise
Manufacturing output rose by just 0.2% in the three months to February on the previous three months, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The annual figures show output was down by 0.2% on the same three months a year ago.
The weakness in factory output can be seen in the more volatile monthly figures, which show a 1.0% fall in the seasonally adjusted figures.
Nine manufacturing sub-sectors showed a fall, with three rising and one flat. The fall was spread across manufacturing with the nine sub-sectors contributing between 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points to the fall.
The largest contributors to the fall were the manufacture of transport equipment industries and the manufacture of rubber and plastic products industries which fell by 2.0% and 2.7% respectively. On the plus side, the largest rise was the manufacture of electrical equipment industries, which increased by 4.6%.
The latest index figure for manufacturing is 94.4 — nearly 9% lower than the average for 2007 as a whole, before the 2008 recession hit home. The index figure was last lower in July 2010.
The index of production, which includes energy and utilities as well as manufacturing, posted a 0.5% fall in the latest three months on the previous three months and was 3.1% down on the same period a year ago, according to the ONS.
However, between January and February of this year there was a rise of 0.4%.