Surprise fall in UK manufacturing
April 6, 2006
UK manufacturing output fell by 0.2% in February as production by chemical firms slipped, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
The fall confounded forecasts of a 0.2% rise for the period, and followed three consecutive monthly rises.
The more reliable three-month snapshot shows output rose by 0.4% between December and February compared with the previous quarter.
Manufacturing output is now 1.7% lower than in the same period a year ago.
The ONS figures showed a three-month rise in manufacturing output for eight industry sectors, including textiles, rubber and plastics, machinery and chemicals, which hit a record high in December.
There were falls in five sectors, including electrical and optical equipment, wood products and fuels.
Economists said the data was unlikely to put pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates during its meeting this week.
Service sector
Elsewhere on Wednesday, a survey showed that the UK services sector grew strongly in March - albeit at a slower rate than the month before.
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) survey of hotels, restaurants, transport, communications, financial, business and IT services firms found that most were taking on encouraging levels of new business.
However, CIPS said firms were experiencing greater cost pressures from rising energy and labour prices.
The CIPS business index fell to 57.4 in March from 58.9 a month earlier, but any figure above 50 represents growth.
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