EEF NW comment on PMI data

Darrell Matthews

Commenting on today’s (2 December) PMI data, Darrell Matthews, North West Region Director at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said: “Today’s data adds to the volume of positive news about UK manufacturing and suggests the sector should see sustained strong growth in the final three months of this year.

"While manufacturers reported some concerns about rising input costs, both for raw materials and utilities, on the whole the survey showed a broad based recovery, with growth in both domestic and export orders.

"While we expect to see a slight contraction in output overall in 2013, the year ahead should see the manufacturing sector outpace growth in the wider UK economy.”

EEF published its Q4 business trends and revised economic forecasts today predicting that manufacturing will grow by 2.7% in 2014, faster than GDP overall.