UK industrial production edges up in second quarter – but manufacturing falls
Shrugs all round as new figures showed the UK's industrial output edged up just 0.2 per cent between the second and third quarters – although the outlook was rather less encouraging for the manufacturing sector.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggested the sector – which makes up the biggest component of industrial production – fell 0.4 per cent during the same period, although comparing September with August, it showed a 0.8 per cent increase, the largest monthly rise since April 2014. Swings and roundabouts.
Total production output increased 1.1 per cent between September this year and the same month the year before, with rises in three of the four main sectors. Mining and quarrying was the largest contributor to this, increasing 8.6 per cent.
But month-on-month, that figure was weaker: total production output fell 0.2 per cent between August and September, with decreases in two sectors.
"There do look to be some grounds for hope for manufacturers on the domestic demand front and manufacturers should at least be helped by markedly falling input costs which increases their ability to price competitively," pointed out Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist at IHS Economics.
"In addition, manufacturers will be pleased to see the pound softening after the Bank of England indicated on Thursday that interest rates are unlikely to rise for some time to come. Manufacturers will be hoping that the pound continues to slip on reduced expectations of higher UK interest rates."