The CBI’s latest trends survey has provided further evidence of a slowdown in the UK economy.
Demand was shown to be easing in the December Industrial Trends Survey.
Output is expected to continue to grow in the next quarter, but the balance of firms report it is weakening.
The survey, which involved 557 companies, revealed that manufacturers intend to raise prices in the next quarter at a similar pace to the last few months, indicating their confidence of passing on rising energy and commodity costs.
“The manufacturing sector has become much leaner in recent years, which has enabled it to largely withstand the triple whammy of rising commodity costs, a strong pound against the dollar, and five interest rate rises,” said CBI chief economic adviser Ian McCafferty.
“Although firms are now reporting weakening demand and expect output to grow only modestly next quarter, it is a case of the sector changing from fifth gear to fourth, certainly not juddering to a halt.”
