British manufacturing PMI remains subdued in March

The British manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (PMI), a gauge of industry activities, registered one of its weakest performance at 51.0 in March, according to figures released by survey provider Markit on Friday.

This left the quarterly average at a relatively subdued level of 51.6, equalling the lowest recorded since the PMI first moved back above the neutral 50.0 mark in early 2013, according to Markit.

Manufacturing production remained unchanged from February's seven-month low in March.

The intermediate goods sector recorded the steepest expansions of both production and new business, meanwhile the performance of the consumer goods sector remained mildly positive in March.

However, the trend in investment goods output growth continued to slow sharply, as new work received fell for the second straight month.

"The UK manufacturing sector remained in the doldrums during the opening quarter of the year. Although March saw modest improvements in the trends for production and new orders, industry is still hovering close to the stagnation mark and will struggle to make a meaningful contribution to the next set of GDP growth figures", Rob Dobson, Senior Economist at survey compilers Markit, commented.

He said new export business continues to disappoint, mainly due to softer global economic growth. Although the drop in sterling may add some bounce to export performance in coming months, the exchange rate is likely to cause as many issues on the cost side through higher import prices as it aids for demand. Endit