UK industrial output accelerates on mining, quarrying growth

Growth in British industrial production accelerated more than expected in May, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics.

Output increased 2.1% in May compared with the same month the year before, driven by growth in mining and quarrying activities which expanded by 7.3% combined.

This followed a 1.2% rise in April and beat the 1.6% consensus forecast.

Industrial production increased by 0.4% month-on-month in May, after a 0.3% rise in April, surprising analysts who had expected a 0.2% decline.

However, manufacturing output fell 0.6% during the month, compared with a 0.4% slip in April, missing the 0.1% gain expected. The largest contribution to the fall in manufacturing came from basic metals and metal products, which decreased by 3.7%

Analyst Dominic Bryant from BNP Paribas said the data was “mixed” overall as manufacturing output disappointed: “Q2 looks set to be the strongest quarter for industrial production since at least Q4 2010, but with manufacturing production possibly its weakest since 2012."

He said: “Robust industrial production to date in Q2 is consistent with overall GDP growth picking up from its lacklustre 0.4% q/q registered in Q1.”