UK industrial production weaker than expected with 0.7% fall in March

UK industrial production was weaker than expected in March, numbers on Thursday showed, while overall growth in the first quarter of 2025 marks the first quarterly rise in output in over a year.

UK industrial output fell 0.7% in March, numbers from the Office for National Statistics showed, against a 1.7% rise in February and a 0.4% decline in January.

This fell short of an FXStreet-cited consensus for a 0.5% decline.

On-year, the 0.7% decline in March outperformed an FXStreet-cited consensus for a 0.9% fall.

On-quarter, ouput rose 1.1% in the three months to March, in the first quarterly rise since the beginning of 2024.

‘Manufacturing’ (up 0.8%) was the main contributor to the quarterly rise in quarter 1 2025, supported by smaller positive contributions from ‘water supply and sewerage’ (up 4.0%) and ‘electricity and gas’ (up 1.8%); this was partially offset by a decrease in ‘mining and quarrying’ (down 0.5%),‘ said the ONS.

‘The increase in manufacturing output during Quarter 1 2025 saw rises in 10 of its 13 subsectors.’

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