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UK factory production rose more than five times as fast as expected in March as the weak pound boosted exports.
Manufacturing output rose 2.3% from February, the biggest jump since March 2002, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Economists, surveyed by Bloomberg, had forecast a 0.4% increase. The seasonally adjusted index of production in March 2010 rose by 2.0% compared with March 2009; The seasonally adjusted index of manufacturing in March 2010 rose by 3.3% compared with March 2009.
The largest contributors to the 3.3% year on year rise in overall manufacturing were approximately 1.8 percentage points from the transport equipment industries and approximately 0.5 percentage points from the basic metals and metal products industries.
The seasonally adjusted index of mining and quarrying in March 2010 fell by 3.1% compared with March 2009. Oil and gas extraction decreased by 3.8%; coal extraction decreased by 13.9%.
“Manufacturers have been benefiting from the weaker pound, and the sector has been a bright area in the recovery,”Howard Archer, an economist at IHS Global Insight in London, told Reuters. “The political uncertainty may weigh on the economy, and a big concern is that problems from Greece and the knock-on effects weigh on the Eurozone.”
