Manufacturing shrinks

Manufacturing output fell by 0.2% in the three months to May compared with the previous three months, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is the second month in a row where output has fallen by 0.2%.

Output may have been affected by a number of one-off events, according to the ONS, including the royal wedding bank holiday, the royal wedding itself and the effects of the Japanese tsunami.

Manufacturing output was up by 2.1% in the three months to May on the same period a year earlier.

www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/iop0711.pdf