UK March industrial and manufacturing production: A big miss on expectations

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the UK industrial and manufacturing production data on Thursday, showing that the overall industrial activity deteriorated further in March, way below expectations.

Manufacturing output dropped -0.6% m/m in March versus a -03% drop seen in Feb, while total industrial output also dropped for the third straight month, with the figures showing a -0.5% decrease in the reported month, against a -0.8% (revised down from -0.7%) drop seen in Feb.

On annualized basis, UK manufacturing production also dropped more-than expectations, coming in at 2.3% in March, compared with expectations of +3.0%. Total industrial output slowed down sharply to 1.4% from a year earlier, missing expectations of a 2.1% rise and against the previous +2.5% print.