UK manufacturing and construction sectors rally
UK industrial production made a negative contribution to national growth in May but manufacturing activity made a subdued recovery, official figures showed on Tuesday.
Industrial production fell 0.6% in the three months to May compared to the preceding three month period, the Office for National Statistics revealed.
Production in the month of May declined 0.4% compared to April, when it dropped 1.0% compared to the month before, but was up 0.8% compared to May last year, though both figures were worse than expected by economists.
Manufacturing production, having fallen 1.3% in April, bounced back with 0.4% growth on the month and 1.1% on the year in May, though again both not as strong as had been forecast. The growth in May was supported by increases in nine of the 13 manufacturing sub-sectors but for the rolling three-month period to May manufacturing production was down 1.2% due to the declines in the previous months.
Construction output in May was up 2.9% month-on-month on a seasonally adjusted basis, which was up from 0.5% growth the month before and much better than expected. Construction output in May was also up 1.6% on the year after a 3.3% fall the month before, though still falling 1.7% on a rolling three-month basis.
Combined with a pick-up of 0.4% in the three months to May in service sector output from 0.2% in April, overall UK gross domestic product grew 0.3% in May and pushed the rolling three-month growth rate up to 0.2% from 0.0% in April, though this was below the consensus forecast of 0.3%.