Pharma leads manufacturing fall
9 Jul 2014
UK manufacturing has suffered biggest fall in output since January 2013, with pharmaceuticals among the worst performing sectors.
According to figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), manufacturing output in May was 1.3% lower than April.
The largest contributors to this fall were reported as being basic metals & metal products; basic pharmaceutical products & pharmaceutical preparations; and computer, electronic & optical products.
Pharmaceuticals output was also down year-on-year, running at 0.33 percentage points lower on the ONS’ Index of Production (IoP) than May 2013.
This was despite overall manufacturing output on May’s IoP, an index where 2010 output levels are set as the baseline, being up by 2.6 percentage points compared to a year earlier.
As reported in March’s IoP, areas such as plastics and food production are driving this annual growth.
Overall the IoP, which also includes areas such as mining, oil & gas and electricity production in addition manufacturing, was running at 97.5, below the 2010 baseline level of 100.
Manufacturing, however, is still above the baseline, running at a level of 101.5 on the index.
