Steel Strip

Britain’s manufacturing sector expanded unexpectedly last month and at the fastest rate in two years as the weak pound made exports cheaper and imports more expensive, according to new data.

Barely a month after Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, said that weak sterling “will be helpful” in rebalancing Britain’s economy, the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index showed that the UK’s manufacturing sector grew at the third-fastest rate since the series began in January 1992.

 

Read the full story at the Times online

The first bit of good news that we have seen in sometime regarding British Manufacturing, and the recession in the UK. We have seen reports in the last few weeks of signs that the US, Asia and some European economies are slowly coming out of recession, but UK projections have remained relatively pessimistic.

One has to be cautious about single reports but any improvements in the economy has to be welcome and particularly when it relates to UK manufacturing, a sector that has been sadly neglected for many years.

Could the recent announcement that GM is not to sell Vauxhall Opel, provide a needed confidence boost to the UK car industry?