Growth in the UK manufacturing sector slipped to an eight-month low on Thursday, slowing down after November’s 51-month high.
The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) figure came in at 55.2, showing the slowest month for the UK manufacturing sector in 11 months. Decelerations were seen across the consumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors; however, the figure came in just higher than the Reuters’ forecast. Any figure above 50 indicates growth.
An increase was seen in new orders, which were higher than last month, with there seeming to be an increase in domestic demand alongside sold export figures.
According to IHS Markit economist Rob Dobson, the figures suggest factory output growth so far this year has slowed to a three-monthly rate of 0.4 percent, compared with a robust 1.3 percent in the last three months of 2017.
Manufacturers’ outlook remained positive, however, with almost 56 percent of companies forecast that output would be higher in one year’s time, compared to only 6 percent expecting a decline.
