British manufacturing activity growth unexpectedly slowed in November to its weakest pace in eight months and firms' prices rose at their slowest rate in six months, a survey showed today.
The CIPS/RBS Purchasing Managers Index fell to 52.6 in November from a downwardly revised 53.5 in October to record the lowest reading since March. Analysts had expected an improvement to 54.
The survey showed factory output growth slowed markedly, partly due to supply disruptions. But orders growth also slowed, while export orders may have been dented by a strong sterling.
Firms also cut jobs for the first time in six months in a move to increase efficiency as they were unable to raise prices to keep up with surging costs.
Factory gate inflation eased sharply, with the output prices index slipping to a six-month low of 53.8 from October's three-month high of 56.0, while the index of firms' input costs eased to 63.2 from 63.4 - its lowest since January.
The figures suggest companies have not been able to make October's price hikes stick and may provide some comfort to Bank of England policymakers worried about inflation pressures.
