A survey has shown that growth in Britain's manufacturing sector slowed to a 10-month low in September after export orders fell for the first time in a year.
The Markit/CIPS manufacturing PMI fell to 53.4 in September from a downwardly revised 53.7 in August. That was the lowest since November 2009 and below economists' forecasts for 53.8.
Analysts said the figures provided further evidence Britain's recovery was losing steam after strong growth in the second quarter.
Bank of England official Adam Posen this week said the central bank might need to restart a programme to pump money into the economy, although most analysts reckon he will have difficulty winning over others as inflation is still high.
The PMI survey showed output fell back to grow at its slowest pace since last September and the employment index also fell to stand barely above the 50-level which separates expansion from contraction.
'More worrying is the order book trend,' said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit. 'This suggests that the slowdown in production has further to run.'
The new orders index improved by almost two points, but the export orders index fell below 50 to show foreign demand declining for the first time since July 2009. Markit said firms had reported a drop in demand from clients in mainland Europe, the United States and Russia.
