UK manufacturing, industrial output continue to decline in October
Monday, December 6, 2004 9:53:10 AM
afxpress.com
LONDON (AFX) - Hard-pressed manufacturers in the UK continued to suffer in October with output on a year-on-year basis falling by its biggest amount for over a year, official figures showed today
The office of National Statistics said manufacturing output during the month fell by 0.1 pct from September and by 0.5 pct year-on-year, the biggest annual fall since August 2003
The declines were unexpected. Analysts polled by AFX News had predicted a 0.4 monthly rise and a 0.1 pct annual increase
The wider measure of industrial production, which also includes utilities output as well as manufacturing output, also fell by 0.1 pct, the fifth consecutive monthly fall. The statistics office said this is the longest run of falls since January to July 2001
On a year-on-year basis, industrial output fell 2.0 pct, the biggest annual fall since May 2003
Industrial output had been expected to increase by 0.6 pct on the month and fall by 0.4 pct from a year earlier
A spokesman for the statistics office said the figures reflect the fact that manufacturers have been unable to pass on extra costs by raising prices, and added that this is the first month where this factor has been evident across a wide range of industries
In September, manufacturing output rose by 0.1 pct from August and by 0.5 pct year-on-year. Industrial output was up 0.3 pct from a month earlier and fell 0.9 pct on an annual basis
Among manufacturing sub-sectors, there were falls in 12 sectors, with significant falls in transport equipment and pulp, paper and publishing. There was also a significant rise in chemicals and man-made fibres, NS said
Over the last three months, manufacturing output has fallen by 1.0 pct from the previous three months and industrial output by 1.7 pct
Industrial output for the third quarter was revised to a 1.3 pct decline from the 1.4 pct drop reported in last month's release, while manufacturing output for the period was revised to a fall of 0.8 pct from a fall of 1.0 pct
The statistics office said the trend estimate for manufacturing shows an annual growth rate of -1 pct against -0.5 pct last month
Meanwhile, the trend estimate for industrial production shows an annual growth rate of -2 pct, also below last month's rate of -1.5 pct
Today's weak figures are likely to increase expectations that the Bank of England may well leave interest rates on hold for a while yet, with many anticipating that the next move is most likely to be down
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