MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK manufacturing output declined 10% in twelve months

Manufacturing output declined at its fastest rate since 1981 in December, underscoring the fragile state of the UK economy, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it fell 10.2% from a year earlier as recession hit the sector.

For the final three months of 2008 output fell 5.1%, the biggest quarterly fall since 1974. The ONS said the weak manufacturing data meant the UK's recession was worse than first thought. ONS said the data meant that the contraction in UK GDP could be 1.6% in the fourth quarter, compared with the preliminary estimate of 1.5%. "December's UK industrial production figures maintain the picture of unrelenting gloom in the manufacturing sector," said Jonathan Loynes, economist at Capital Economics. "Various surveys suggest that things are set to get even worse over the coming months, with no signs at all that the drop in the exchange rate is yet boosting manufacturers' export order books," he added. On a monthly basis, the fall in manufacturing was 2.2% - much more than the 1.4% forecast. Broader industrial output, which also includes mining, oil and gas extraction and power supply, shrank by 1.7% in December and by 9.4% from December 2007. Data released at the same time showed that producer output prices rose at an annual rate of 3.5% in January, down from 4.6% in December