UK manufacturers expect lower output for 1st time in 3 years: CBI

[LONDON] British manufacturers expect their output will fall in the coming three months, the first such decline in three years, an industry survey showed on Thursday.

The Confederation of British Industry said expectations for manufacturing output over the next three months worsened to -6 from +5 in October, the first prediction of a fall since November 2012.

The weak outlook was broad-based and the largest downward drivers of expectations were the chemicals, mechanical engineering and metal manufacture sectors.

The CBI said the total orders balance of its monthly industrial trends survey rose to -11 in three months to November, up from -18 in October which had been the weakest in more than two years.

November's reading was roughly in line with a forecast in a Reuters poll of -10.

Export orders weakened a touch to -29, their lowest level in nearly three years.

Britain's economy, which has grown faster than those of most other rich countries over the last two years, slowed in the third quarter, hurt in part by weakness in manufacturing against the backdrop of a slowing world economy.

REUTERS