UK production output fell sharply in August, puzzling analysts who had expected only a slight dip.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) production output fell 1.5% in August, compared with the same month last year. Analysts had been expecting a fall of around 0.4%.
The ONS said the decrease reflected a fall of 0.2% in manufacturing (the largest component of production), 10.1% in mining & quarrying and 3.5% in the electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning sector.
The largest upward contribution between August 2012 and August 2013 was from the manufacture of transport equipment, which rose by 12.5%, with the majority of this momentum coming from the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers & semi-trailers, it added.
Total production fell 1.1% between July and August this year. There were downward contributions from all four main sectors, with manufacturing decreasing by 1.2% after two consecutive increases.
Commenting on the figures, Lee Hopley, chief economist at manufacturers’ organisation the EEF, said: “Despite this monthly setback on production, manufacturing should make a positive contribution to third quarter GDP growth and other business surveys seem to align behind a continuation of this trend through the final months of the year.”
Scott Corfe, managing economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said: “Although monthly data are erratic, it is indisputably the case that manufacturing output remains subdued – output for the three months to August was 8.8% lower than the same three months of 2007.
“Manufacturing output still has a long way to go to reach pre-crisis levels and this is still very much a services-led recovery.”
