UK March final manufacturing PMI 47.9 vs 48.0 prelim | Forexlive

• 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.”