UK manufacturing near three year low in February

The Markit/CIPS manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 50.8 in February from 52.9 in January.

This was below economists’ expectations for a reading of 52.2 and marked the lowest reading since April 2013. Still, it remained just above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.

Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit, said: “The near-stagnation of manufacturing highlights the ongoing fragility of the economic recovery at the start of the year and provides further cover for the Bank of England’s increasingly dovish stance.

“The breadth of the slowdown is especially worrisome. The domestic market is showing signs of weakening while export business continued to fall. Price pressures also remained firmly on the downside, with the survey signalling input costs falling at a double-digit annual pace and average factory gate selling prices showing a further decline.”