This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
BRITAIN’S troubled manufacturing sector shrank at its fastest rate since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic last month, new data suggests.
The sector has now shrunk for 13 consecutive months, according to the influential S&P Global/CIPS UK Manufacturing PMI survey.
The survey’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reading dropped from 45.3 in July to 43.0 in August, it was revealed today.
A PMI reading under 50 means the sector has month-over-month contracted; it has been 39 months since the survey scored so low for manufacturing.
Discounting the pandemic lockdown in the spring of 2020, the survey has not scored this poorly since the 2009 financial crisis.
“Manufacturers reported a weakening economic backdrop as demand is hit by rising interest rates, the cost-of-living crisis, export losses and concerns about the market outlook,” said Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“While this is being felt across the manufacturing industry, business-to-business companies are especially hard hit.
“Intermediate goods producers saw the steepest drops in output, new orders and employment as a result.”
