North-east is bottom of pile for British manufacturing
THE North-east was left languishing at the bottom of a league table for British manufacturing today, as a detailed report showed overall output had made a stronger than expected recovery from recession.
Manufacturers organisation EEF said the sector was looking to the future with greater confidence following release of its first quarter Manufacturing Outlook report, published at the start of Manufacturing Week, which gave the most upbeat signal since the financial crisis began in mid-2007.
But the balance of change in the North-east remained the worse among nine regions. EEF said ongoing weakness in the metals sector and patchy automotive performance had left output in the North of England below the national average.
And it stressed a number of threats to sustained manufacturing output remained elsewhere - including uncertainty about how to repair the public finances, ongoing access to finance issues, and the long-term recovery in key export markets. Consequently, it said, investment was likely to remain muted for some time.
UK-wide the report showed that output and orders turn positive and job losses continue to level off. But margins remain under pressure and investment was set to be last indicator to recover.
Commenting, EEF region director, Alan Hall, said: “Having emerged from the recession at the end of last year, the start to 2010 was better than expected.
“Clearly more companies are becoming more confident about their prospects and we’re beginning to see the real benefits of an export-led recovery.
“But we have to be cautious about predicting a strong rebound, as a number of factors could knock growth off track. The recovery depends on world markets continuing to grow, and the financial system’s ability to provide finance is yet to be fully tested.
“Investment plans are also likely to remain on hold until manufacturers get a better sense of how a new government plans to repair the public finances.”
