Follow UK Investment Immigration and UK Economic Trends: A report released by data compilation agency Markit on Monday (March 2) shows that the growth rate of UK manufacturing in February reached a seven-month high, further indicating a strong start for the UK economy in 2015, primarily due to domestic demand.
The Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the UK rose by 1 point to 54.1 in February, with the January index also revised upwards.
The February index exceeded all forecasts in a Reuters survey and remained well above the neutral threshold of 50.
PMI data indicates that UK manufacturing output grew at a rate of approximately 0.5% compared to the previous quarter, with a growth rate of 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014.
"This reinforces a broader recovery picture for UK economic growth so far in the first quarter," said Rob Dobson, a senior analyst at Markit.
However, he warned that the improvement relies on consumer goods production rather than reflecting improvements in business investment in factories and machinery manufacturing.
A further decline in export orders highlights that the UK economy is reliant on domestic demand for recovery. Markit noted that many respondents believe this is related to the appreciation of the pound.
Factory gate prices saw their largest decline since September 2009, with manufacturers' costs for raw materials and energy continuing to fall significantly, although the rate of decline has slightly slowed compared to January.
