UK Manufacturing Rises to 0.4% in September

Britain’s manufacturing sector was more resilient than expected in September, with growth driven by car factory production lines restarting after summer shutdowns.

Manufacturing output increased by 0.4% over the month according to the Office for National Statistics, beating City expectations of a 0.3% rise. The biggest contributor to growth was car production, but computer, electronic and chemical manufacturing were also drivers.

The annual rate of growth slowed to 2.9% in September from 3.9% in August.

Despite the increase in output in September, economists said growth in the sector, and the wider economy, was gradually slowing. Manufacturing output increased by 0.4% in the third quarter, compared with 0.5% in the second quarter and 1.5% in the first.

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “While year-on-year growth for manufacturing is still satisfactory, there is a clear slowdown in the pace of growth both quarterly and year-on-year. This provides further confirmation that expansion of the UK economy has gradually eased in recent quarters.”

The wider measure of industrial production, which includes mining and utilities as well as manufacturing, increased by 0.6% on a monthly basis in September, beating expectations of a 0.4% increase. Annual growth slowed to 1.5% from 2.5% in August.

via The Guardian

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza