The recent recovery in the manufacturing sector is showing signs of momentum after output rose for a second month in a row in March.
Factory production improved 1.1% on a month earlier and was a key contributor behind a 0.7% improvement in the wider measure covering all industrial production, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.
It was the first back-to-back monthly rise in manufacturing output in two years, albeit helped by a slump in January due to poor weather.
While there was a 2.4% rise in the supply of electricity and gas following the coldest March since 1962, yesterday’s figures were not enough to revise the ONS’s recent estimate for 0.3% GDP (gross domestic product) growth in the first quarter.
Overall production is now back to its level at the end of last year but still 1.4% below its level a year ago.
However, warning against complacency, Mike Rigby, head of manufacturing at Barclays, said: “There is still some way to go before we see a stable return of growth in the sector with confidence around future order books.”
