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08/08/2005
Manufacturing confidence slides across UK
A business survey has revealed a decline in confidence in every UK region for the first time since 2003.
According to the latest quarterly Regional Trends Survey published on Monday by the CBI and Experian, falls in new orders are continuing to make companies more pessimistic.
CBI Director-General Digby Jones has called for a cut in interest rates to boost manufacturing.
The fall in new manufacturing orders in the three months to July, continues a trend that began at the start of this year - but is now driven exclusively by the continuing slowdown in the domestic economy. By contrast, export orders, which had declined in the two previous surveys, rose in five regions in the past quarter, and stabilized in two others.
However, in four regions - Northern Ireland, the South East & London, Wales and East of England - the decline in export orders has continued. In the Northern Ireland and the South East & London regions businesses are "extremely pessimistic" about prospects for export orders in the months ahead. However, this is in stark contrast to expectations of a further rise in five regions, led by the East Midlands, Scotland and Yorkshire & the Humber.
The widespread downturn in new orders was especially marked in the South East & London, which registered its sharpest decline in orders for seven years. The region appears to be among the worst affected by the weakness in domestic demand that has emerged in recent months, and has also failed to benefit from the upturn in exports seen in some other areas.
Trends in manufacturing output over the past three months were very mixed. Wales experienced a sharp decline, the first in almost two years, and Yorkshire & the Humber also saw a sharp fall. But the South West saw an encouraging rise and the West Midlands, after a year of steep falls, saw a modest increase.
Scotland too reported a modest increase in output for the fifth survey in a row, and there was also an increase in the North East - the first for over a year.
According to Experian estimates based on the survey results, a further 18,000 jobs will be lost to manufacturing nationally in the current quarter, a large figure but still well short of the losses seen during the steep recession of 2001 to 2003.
(SP/MB)
According to the latest quarterly Regional Trends Survey published on Monday by the CBI and Experian, falls in new orders are continuing to make companies more pessimistic.
CBI Director-General Digby Jones has called for a cut in interest rates to boost manufacturing.
The fall in new manufacturing orders in the three months to July, continues a trend that began at the start of this year - but is now driven exclusively by the continuing slowdown in the domestic economy. By contrast, export orders, which had declined in the two previous surveys, rose in five regions in the past quarter, and stabilized in two others.
However, in four regions - Northern Ireland, the South East & London, Wales and East of England - the decline in export orders has continued. In the Northern Ireland and the South East & London regions businesses are "extremely pessimistic" about prospects for export orders in the months ahead. However, this is in stark contrast to expectations of a further rise in five regions, led by the East Midlands, Scotland and Yorkshire & the Humber.
The widespread downturn in new orders was especially marked in the South East & London, which registered its sharpest decline in orders for seven years. The region appears to be among the worst affected by the weakness in domestic demand that has emerged in recent months, and has also failed to benefit from the upturn in exports seen in some other areas.
Trends in manufacturing output over the past three months were very mixed. Wales experienced a sharp decline, the first in almost two years, and Yorkshire & the Humber also saw a sharp fall. But the South West saw an encouraging rise and the West Midlands, after a year of steep falls, saw a modest increase.
Scotland too reported a modest increase in output for the fifth survey in a row, and there was also an increase in the North East - the first for over a year.
According to Experian estimates based on the survey results, a further 18,000 jobs will be lost to manufacturing nationally in the current quarter, a large figure but still well short of the losses seen during the steep recession of 2001 to 2003.
(SP/MB)
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13 May 2002
CBI survey reveals end of recession for SMEs
A new survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has revealed that small and medium-sized manufacturers have seen their first rise in business confidence for over a year.
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