British factory output fell for a second month running in February in its sharpest rate in nearly one-and-a-half years.
Manufacturing output fell 0.6 per cent in February, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today, confounding forecast for a 0.3 per cent rise and posting the biggest fall since October 2005, leaving output up just 1.2 per cent on the year.
Overall industrial production also fell unexpectedly, contracting by 0.2 per cent on the month. That left it 0.3 per cent higher than a year earlier.
While the figures suggest last year's manufacturing recovery has already run out of steam, the ONS said sectors that had done best in 2006 such as transport and chemicals were still seeing strong orders.
But statisticians said the food, drink and tobacco sectors faced a more worrying outlook as more and more companies chose to locate abroad.