UK Manufacturing Production Grows at Fastest Rate For Six Years

A survey showed that factory production in Britain compensated for some of the losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, as it rose in August at the fastest pace in more than six years.

The IHS Market/CIBS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 55.2 in August from 53.3 in July, broadly in line with a previous preliminary estimate of 55.3, the highest since February 2018.

The production component of the PMI, which IHS Markit says gives a clearer picture of the sector’s robustness compared to the headline number, rose to its highest level since May 2014.

However, index levels represent the pace of growth, not the volume of production, and the sector has a long way to go back to where it was before the imposition of the lockdown measures.

About 58% of the manufacturers surveyed by the Confederation of British Industry in late July and first half of August said they considered their order book to be “less than usual”.