UK manufacturing production falls to 0.1%

The UK manufacturing production has taken a drop by declining to 0.1% in January, a large drop from the previous period`s 0.8% growth. This is largely attributed to the maintenance work done on the North Sea oil and gas line.

Prime Minister David Cameroon wants the UK economy to be more export oriented but weakness in the euro zone has left the economy reliant mostly on consumer demand remarked Reuters.

The key points in the report include:
- Total production output is estimated to have increased by 0.1% between Q3 2014 and Q4 2014. The largest contribution to the quarterly growth came from manufacturing, which increased by 0.2%.
- Total production output increased by 1.4% between 2013 and 2014. Of the four main sectors, manufacturing output was the only one to rise, increasing by 2.7%.
- Total production output is estimated to have increased by 0.5% in December 2014 compared with December 2013. Manufacturing output was the only main sector to rise, increasing by 2.4%.
- Total production output decreased by 0.2% between November 2014 and December 2014. The largest contribution to this decrease came from mining & quarrying, which decreased by 1.4%.
- Manufacturing output increased by 0.1% between November 2014 and December 2014. The main contributors to the increase were computer, electronic & optical products; the manufacture of transport equipment; and the manufacture of food products, beverages & tobacco.
- In Q4 2014, production and manufacturing were 10.5% and 5.1% respectively below their figures reached in the pre-downturn GDP peak in Q1 2008.
- The preliminary estimate of GDP, published on 27 January 2015, contained a forecasted decrease of 0.1% for production in Q4 2014. This release of data estimates that production increased by 0.1% between Q3 2014 and Q4 2014 and the impact on the previously published GDP estimate for Q4 2014 is minimal.

Head over here for the full report by the Office of National Statistics.