Industrial production in the UK increased 0.6% from the previous month in February of 2019, easing from an upwardly revised 0.7% rise in January and easily beating market expectations of a 0.1% gain. Output went up at a softer pace for manufacturing (0.9% from 1.1% in January), namely food, beverages & tobacco (0.9% from 2%); chemicals & chemical products (0.5% from 1.2%); basic metals & metal products (1.6% from 2.4%) and electrical equipment (1.9% from 2.2%). Meanwhile, production rebounded sharply for mining & quarrying (2.3% from -0.2%) while it fell for electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply (-1.3% from 0.5%). In addition, production decreased at a softer pace for water supply (-0.4% from -1.7%). On a yearly basis, industrial output edged up 0.1%, rebounding from a downwardly revised 0.3% drop and compared with market expectations of a 0.9% fall. It was the first gain in industrial activity since August of 2018. Industrial Production Mom in the United Kingdom averaged 0.08 percent from 1968 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 9.90 percent in March of 1972 and a record low of -8 percent in February of 1972.
Industrial Production Mom in the United Kingdom is expected to be -0.30 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Industrial Production Mom in the United Kingdom to stand at 0.20 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the United Kingdom Industrial Production MoM is projected to trend around 0.50 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.