UK manufacturing output rebounded by 1.6% in December but was down 1.5% on a year earlier, official figures show.
Comparing the fourth quarter of last year with the three months to September, yesterday's figures from the Office for National Statistics show that manufacturing output was down 1.3%.
This was not as bad as the 1.5% quarter-on-quarter drop estimated by the ONS when it published data last month showing UK gross domestic product had fallen by 0.3% in the final three months of 2012. However, it was the sharpest drop in manufacturing output in any quarter since the opening three months of 2009.
The 1.6% month-on-month jump in manufacturing output in December was double the 0.8% rise forecast by the City. But it followed respective 1.3% and 0.3% falls in October and November.
Broader industrial production, which includes mining and quarrying, oil and gas extraction and electricity, gas and water supply as well as manufacturing output, rose 1.1% in December. However, comparing the fourth quarter with the preceding three months, it was down 1.9%. This was the sharpest quarterly fall in industrial production since the opening three months of 2009.
Separate data from the ONS yesterday showed the UK's overall deficit on goods and services trade with the rest of the world narrowed from £3.58 billion in November to £3.2bn in December.
But consultancy Capital Economics noted the £37.7bn trade deficit for 2012 as a whole, up from £23.6bn in 2011, was the highest on record in nominal terms.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research think-tank yesterday estimated UK GDP in the November to January period was unchanged from the previous three months.
Samuel Tombs, at Capital Economics, said: "December's industrial production and trade figures added to evidence that the economic picture improved at the tail end of last year. But the fact that the trade deficit for the year as a whole reached a record high underlines that these improvements are coming from exceptionally weak starting points."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article