(Reuters) – British factory orders fell again this month but at a less severe pace than in July, according to a survey published on Thursday that showed little sign of a sustained recovery for the manufacturing sector.
The Confederation of British Industry’s monthly net balance of new orders rose in August to -22 from -32 in July, marking two years of straight negative readings.
Output fell during the three months to August, after being broadly unchanged during the three months to July.
“The stop-start recovery seen in recent months continued in August, with output volumes falling for the first time since March and order books remaining below average,” said Ben Jones, CBI lead economist.
“But it’s encouraging that manufacturers still remain confident that output will tick up over the autumn, despite expectations for growth diminishing from a two-year high last month.”
The official measure of British manufacturing output has mostly flat-lined for the past two years and remains around 3.8% below its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level.
A separate survey published earlier on Thursday by S&P Global showed a better performance by the manufacturing sector, marked by rising jobs growth.