UK manufacturers have experienced a weakening of output growth and a softening of their order books, a survey shows.
A rounded balance of one per cent of manufacturers consider their total order books to be below-normal, according to the Confederation of British Industry’s latest monthly survey. This balance is arrived at by subtracting the proportion reporting above-normal order books from that declaring a worse-than-usual position.
In the previous monthly survey, a net 7% of manufacturers had reported above-normal order books.
A balance of 5% of manufacturers described their export order books as above-normal in the latest survey. This is a deterioration from last month’s survey, in which a balance of 9% of manufacturers reported above-normal export order books.
In the latest survey, a balance of 11% of manufacturers reported a rise in output volumes over the latest three months. In August’s survey, a net 21% of companies in the sector had recorded an increase in output volumes over a three-month timeframe.
Anna Leach, head of economic intelligence at the CBI, said: “While manufacturing order books remain strong and output is still growing, Brexit uncertainty continues to cloud the outlook.
“Heightened fears of a ‘no deal’ Brexit scenario have prompted some firms to move publicly from contingency planning to action.”
She added: “Efforts on all sides must be geared towards securing the withdrawal agreement and –crucially – the transition period. This will provide temporary but essential relief for businesses of all sizes and sectors.”
The CBI said: “We expect UK manufacturers to continue benefiting from healthy external demand and a lower sterling exchange rate, but overall economic growth is expected to remain subdued, reflecting weak household income growth and the drag on investment from Brexit uncertainty.”
Tom Crotty, group director at Ineos and chair of the CBI’s manufacturing council, said: “In the coming months, manufacturers will be looking to the Government to protect the frictionless trade with the EU that they need to thrive.”
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 here