Related News
UK manufacturing figures slump as recession bites
By Jennifer Ryan |
January 10, 2009, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH manufacturing plunged in November, extending its longest streak of decline since 1980, and factories raised prices at the slowest pace in a year as the recession worsened.
Output dropped 2.9 percent in November, matching the biggest drop since 2002, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday in London.
Economists predicted a decline of 0.6 percent, according to the median of 20 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
A separate report showed producer prices in the United Kingdom rose 4.7 percent in December from a year earlier.
The Bank of England cut the benchmark interest rate to 1.5 percent on Thursday, the lowest in its history, to stave off the threat of deflation. Policy makers forecast a "sharp slowdown" in economic growth as banks restrict the availability of credit.
"This provides concrete evidence that activity is grinding to a halt in the UK," said Alan Clarke, an economist at BNP Paribas in London. "There's a risk of another big move in rates if there's enough shocking data like this."
Factory-gate prices were unchanged in December from a month earlier, the statistics office said.
Economists predicted a decline of 0.6 percent from November, according to the median of 14 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
Manufacturing, which accounts for 14 percent of the economy, fell for a ninth month. It dropped 3.3 percent in the quarter through November from the previous three months, also the biggest drop since 1980, the report showed.
Twelve out of 13 categories of factory production dropped on the month, led by chemicals and man-made fibers, transport equipment and basic metals, the statistics office said.
London-based DS Smith, owner of the Spicers office products band, said on December 3 that weaker demand across all its trading partners pushed first-half profit lower and limited its ability to charge customers more.
Producer prices didn't fall on the month because lower gasoline costs were offset by higher tobacco and alcohol product prices, the statistics office said. Manufacturing has so far struggled to benefit from the weakness of the pound.
The UK currency last year lost around a quarter of its value against the dollar and the euro, the currency of Britain's biggest trading partner.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts recessions next year in the United States, Japan and the euro area. The UK economy contracted 0.6 percent in the third quarter after stalling in the second, government data show.
The central bank cut the key interest rate on Thursday to the lowest since it was founded in 1694 to keep the credit squeeze from deepening the recession.
The bank may lower rates further as the recession raises a "considerable risk" that the inflation rate will fall below the bank's 2 percent target, George Buckley, an economist at Deutsche Bank in London, said yesterday.
Output dropped 2.9 percent in November, matching the biggest drop since 2002, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday in London.
Economists predicted a decline of 0.6 percent, according to the median of 20 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
A separate report showed producer prices in the United Kingdom rose 4.7 percent in December from a year earlier.
The Bank of England cut the benchmark interest rate to 1.5 percent on Thursday, the lowest in its history, to stave off the threat of deflation. Policy makers forecast a "sharp slowdown" in economic growth as banks restrict the availability of credit.
"This provides concrete evidence that activity is grinding to a halt in the UK," said Alan Clarke, an economist at BNP Paribas in London. "There's a risk of another big move in rates if there's enough shocking data like this."
Factory-gate prices were unchanged in December from a month earlier, the statistics office said.
Economists predicted a decline of 0.6 percent from November, according to the median of 14 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
Manufacturing, which accounts for 14 percent of the economy, fell for a ninth month. It dropped 3.3 percent in the quarter through November from the previous three months, also the biggest drop since 1980, the report showed.
Twelve out of 13 categories of factory production dropped on the month, led by chemicals and man-made fibers, transport equipment and basic metals, the statistics office said.
London-based DS Smith, owner of the Spicers office products band, said on December 3 that weaker demand across all its trading partners pushed first-half profit lower and limited its ability to charge customers more.
Producer prices didn't fall on the month because lower gasoline costs were offset by higher tobacco and alcohol product prices, the statistics office said. Manufacturing has so far struggled to benefit from the weakness of the pound.
The UK currency last year lost around a quarter of its value against the dollar and the euro, the currency of Britain's biggest trading partner.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts recessions next year in the United States, Japan and the euro area. The UK economy contracted 0.6 percent in the third quarter after stalling in the second, government data show.
The central bank cut the key interest rate on Thursday to the lowest since it was founded in 1694 to keep the credit squeeze from deepening the recession.
The bank may lower rates further as the recession raises a "considerable risk" that the inflation rate will fall below the bank's 2 percent target, George Buckley, an economist at Deutsche Bank in London, said yesterday.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
