UK industrial output falls more than expected in December

Industrial production in the UK fell by more than economists were expecting, weighed down by output from the mining sector.

Total output registered a decrease of 1.1% month-on-month in December, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Economists had forecast a drop of 0.1% over the month and a rise of 1.0% in comparison to the year ago period.

Weakness was widespread by sectors versus November, with output registering declines in mining (-4.0%), manufacturing (-0.2%), electricity and gas (-5.4%) and oil&gas (-4.6%).

Factory output had been forecast to rise by 0.1%.

Output from the water and waste sector was the exception, rising by 0.6% on the month.

In terms of quarterly rates of change, the more widely-tracked measure of industrial production because it smoothes out the month-to-month volatility, production decreased by 0.5%, more than ONS had estimated in its preliminary fourth quarter report on gross domestic product, ONS said.

For all of 2015 industrial production grew by 1.0%, with only factory output reporting a decrease, of 0.2%.