British manufacturing output slid 1.5% in April compared with activity in March, with production impacted by the royal wedding and Japan's tsunami disaster, official data showed today.
Output rose by 1.3% in April on a 12-month comparison, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
'Feedback from companies has highlighted the extra bank holiday in April and the after effects of the Japanese tsunami as factors influencing the reduction in output,' the ONS added.
British workers were given a day off on April 29 to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, while Japan's natural disaster meant vital parts could not be sent abroad to Britain, hitting production.
The ONS added that the wider measure of output, British industrial production, dived 1.7% from March and decreased by 1.2% year-on-year.
The month-on-month drop was the biggest since August 2009, while analysts had forecast a fall of just 0.1%. Industrial production includes mining and quarrying, as well as electricity, gas, and water supply.
