Britain reports fastest growth in manufacturing output, new orders since 1994

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Britain reports fastest growth in manufacturing output, new orders since 1994

(Xinhua) 19:18, September 02, 2013

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British manufacturing maintained a strong momentum of growth in August with the output and new orders growing at the fastest rates since 1994, said a market sensitive report on Monday.

The report, jointly issued by the financial information service company Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), showed that the Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) jumped to 57.2 in August, up from a revised reading of 54.8 in July, hitting a two-an-a-half year high.

A PMI reading of 50 points or greater indicates expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction. The August reading PMI signalled expansion of manufacturing for five successive months.

Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit, attributed the booming manufacturing sector to a rising domestic demand accompanied by a return to growth of eurozone, the largest trading partner of Britain.

"Manufacturing is clearly making a strong positive contribution to economy, providing welcome evidence that long-awaited rebalancing of the economy toward manufacturing and exports is at last starting to take place now that our export markets are recovering," said Dobson.

The report said, manufacturing output increased at the fastest pace since July 1994, with marked expansion signalled across consumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors, and new orders rose for the sixth month running and to the greatest degree since August 1994.

"The domestic market was the main source of new contracts, although there was also a solid increase in overseas demand."

However, the main negative finding from the survey was strong upsurge in cost inflationary pressures at manufacturers. Average input prices rose at the fastest rate for two years, said the report.

Speaking of the broader economic picture, Dobson said "the new forward guidance provided by the Bank of England places greater emphasis on job creation alongside economic growth and price inflation."

But he is concerned of other sectors as employee numbers crept up only slightly, as companies squeezed extra output from existing resources.

（Editor：WangXin、Hongyu）