Manufacturing output weakens in July


Factory output is growing at a slower pace, official figures show.


Manufacturing output was only 0.5% higher in the three months to July on the previous three months, down on the 1.6% growth in the three months ending June.


Eight of the 13 subsectors posted growth figures on the previous three-month period. The biggest contributions to the expansion came from coke and refined petroleum products with a 5.8% increase, followed by a 3.0% increase in transport equipment.


On the downside, output shrank in five subsectors, including by 5.1% in pharmaceuticals.


Factory output was 0.8% higher than the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the volatile monthly figure showed a 0.9% decrease in July compared with June.


The Office or National Statistics (ONS) have revised the annual figures upwards and now say manufacturing only shrank by 0.1% in 2015 on the year before, not the 0.2% previously recorded.


In the three-month period ending July, output of the production industries — manufacturing, utilities and mining — was 1.0% higher than the three months ending April and 1.6% higher than the same period a year earlier.


The volatile monthly figure for production output showed just a 0.1% increase in July compared with the previous month.


In the three months to July 2016, production and manufacturing were 7.6% and 5.2% respectively below their level reached in the pre-downturn GDP peak in the first quarter of 2008, the ONS said.


www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/bulletins/indexofproduction/july2016