Disappointing end to year for UK manufacturing
The UK manufacturing industry recorded its slowest rate of growth for three months in December according to the latest figures.
The Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) dropped to 51.9 in December from November’s figure of 52.5 but still above the growth threshold of 50.0.
The overall performance of the manufacturing sector in 2015 was below that of 2014 but the industry has continued to experience growth for almost three years.
Employment rose for thirtieth time in the past 32 months, following November’s stagnation.
December also saw new orders slow to the lowest rate in five months as the sector continued to fail to contribution to the UK’s economic growth in 2015.
Rob Dobson, Senior Economist at Markit described the latest figures as “disappointing”. He commented: “This suggests that industry will make, at best, only a marginal positive contribution to broader economic growth in the final quarter of the year.
“Although this would be an improvement on the second and third quarters, it does also suggest that manufacturing output over 2015 as a whole may be below the level achieved in 2014. With the latest revisions to official data also suggesting that GDP growth earlier in the year was softer than previously thought, the emphasis has really shifted to other sectors of the economy if the rate of expansion for the year as a whole is to come in close to the OBR forecast as outlined in the Autumn Statement.
“The December manufacturing PMI data also suggests that cost pressures remain heavily on the downside and this is driving modest reductions in average factory gate selling prices. If this ongoing mix of subdued growth and weak price pressures remains prevalent elsewhere in the economy, the Bank of England will likely continue to push any potential rate increase later into 2016.”
The post Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI released for December appeared first on UK Construction Online.
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