UK manufacturing output rises to seven-month high

Hopes of a private sector-led recovery in the UK were boosted yesterday after official figures revealed growth in Britain’s manufacturing sector rose to its highest level for seven months in October.

The Office for National Statistics said manufacturing output rose 0.6 per cent month-on-month in October – the best reading since March and double expectations in the market.

The ONS also revised up the result for September, from a paltry 0.1 per cent to 0.2 per cent.

Experts said the figures give hope that the private sector can help pick up the slack created by the public sector following Chancellor George Osborne’s mammoth spending cuts.

Vicky Redwood, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “It looks like the manufacturing industry is in a good position to help to offset some of the effects of the looming squeeze.

“But as we have warned before, the sector isn’t big enough on its own to keep the recovery going as the public and consumer sectors retrench.”

The wider measure of industrial output fell 0.2 per cent month-on-month in October, according to the ONS, but this was mainly due to sharp falls in the highly volatile mining oil and gas sectors.

Recent surveys from the manufacturing sector have been encouraging, with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply’s activity index for November showing the fastest rate of growth for 16 years.