UK Apr industrial output falls

LONDON: British manufacturing output unexpectedly fell on the month in April, suggesting Britain's frail economic recovery may be struggling to gain traction, official data showed on Friday.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics showed producer input costs fell less than expected in May, while annual factory gate inflation was slightly lower than expected. The ONS said manufacturing output fell 0.4 per cent in April, after a rise of 2.2 in March, and against forecasts for a 0.5 per cent rise. The wider measure of industrial production also fell 0.4 per cent.

Analysts had forecast an increase of 0.4 per cent. The declines were the first since January and indicate that the second quarter got off to a weak start after two consecutive quarters of post-recession expansion. Producer input prices were 11.2 per cent up on the year, above forecasts for a bigger easing to 10.7 per cent, although output price inflation eased to 5.7 per cent from 5.9 per cent.

Core output prices, which exclude food, drink, tobacco and petrol, eased to 4.4 per cent from 4.5 per cent. Policymakers have been getting worried that price pressures are not abating as quickly as they had hoped, but the Bank of England still expects consumer price inflation to fall back to its 2 per cent target before the year is out.