- Prior 49.3
New business remains weak as demand conditions are still relatively poor, and that is weighing on overall activity in UK's manufacturing sector. The positive is that input cost and selling price inflation did ease further at least. S&P Global notes that:
“UK manufacturing production fell back into contraction at the end of the opening quarter, as companies scaled back production in response to subdued market conditions. Although total new orders saw a fractional increase, this followed on from a nine-month sequence of contraction and suggests that order book levels remain low overall. Declining new export order intakes remain a significant drain on demand, offsetting signs of a modest revival in the domestic market.
"There was better news on the price and supply fronts during March, however. Input price inflation hit its lowest level since June 2020. Although the index tracking selling prices also signalled a deceleration, it stayed at a higher level than its input costs equivalent to suggest some respite for manufacturers' margins. Supply chains also continued to recover from the immense pressure experienced over the past three-and-a-half years, with March seeing average vendor lead times improve to the greatest extent during the 31-year survey history. This should hopefully filter through to further cost reductions and lessen the disruption to production workflows in coming months.”