British manufacturing output fell unexpectedly in February, its first month-on-month drop in almost a year, adding to signs the economy may have slowed in the first quarter.
The official data, released along with figures for overseas trade, also showed another sharp drop in construction output, defying expectations for a small rebound after a severe downturn in January.
The pace of economic growth slowed slightly in 2017 as consumers suffered from higher inflation caused by a fall in sterling after June 2016's Brexit vote.
Overall, today's data mostly chimed with business surveys that suggest Britain's economy cooled further in early 2018, weighed down in part by snow storms in late February and early March.
UK manufacturing output, which was a bright spot last year thanks to the strong global economy, fell 0.2% month-on-month in February after stagnating in January, the Office for National Statistics said.
That marked the first drop since March 2017 and was worse than the consensus in a Reuters poll of economists that pointed to a 0.2% rise.
Analysts said the figures looked consistent with first-quarter economic growth of around 0.2% quarter-on-quarter. This would be weaker than the Bank of England's forecast of 0.3% and the 0.4% recorded in the last three months of 2017.
But the EEF manufacturing association said February's dip in manufacturing output looked "more like a temporary wobble than a turn for the worse".
The subdued figures will interest Bank of England officials who are widely expected to raise interest rates next month for only the second time since the 2008 financial crisis.
In February the bank raised its growth forecasts for Britain due to the improving global economy and said interest rates were likely to rise somewhat faster and to a slightly greater extent than it had expected in late 2017.
UK manufacturing output was 2.5% higher than its level in February 2017, again less than the 3.3% Reuters poll consensus, the ONS said.
Overall industrial output, which combines manufacturing and energy production, rose 0.1% in February, compared with a 1.3% expansion in January and weaker than the 0.4% consensus in the Reuters poll.
Industrial output accounts for 14% of the UK's overall economic output.
Today's figures also reveal that UK construction output in February dropped 1.6% month-on-month after a 3.1% plunge in January - confounding the consensus expectation for a 0.7% rebound.
There was some anecdotal evidence that heavy snow in late February had hurt construction output, although the effect was difficult to quantify, the ONS said.
Separate figures on Britain's trade performance brought better news, however.
The UK's goods trade deficit with the rest of the world narrowed to £10.203 billion in February from £12.228 billion in January.
This was the smallest gap since September and was better than all forecasts in a Reuters poll which had pointed to a deficit of £11.95 billion.
The fall reflected a sharp drop in imports rather than an improvement in exports, both in value and volume terms.
