SME Business News

The UK’s manufacturing firms expect the pace of decline in output to slow markedly in the next quarter, suggesting they believe the toughest phase of the recession may be behind them.

In the CBI’s monthly Industrial Trends survey for May, 17% of the 575 firms surveyed said they expect the volume of output to increase over the next three months, against 34% who anticipate a fall.

The resulting balance of -17% is a marked improvement on the previous month (a balance of – 32%), and takes the measure back to where it was before the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September (a balance of -16%).

Ian McCafferty, the CBI’s Chief Economic Adviser, comments: “After scaling back production very sharply at the beginning of the year, manufacturers can see a glimmer at the end of the tunnel. They still expect manufacturing activity to fall, but at a much slower rate over the next few months.”