Export improvement in UK

According to the CBI’s latest Industrial Trends Survey, UK manufacturing shows continued signs of improvement with the balance of firms reporting healthy export orders the best for a decade.

According to the report, for the first time since February 1996 as many firms said export orders were above normal as below, driven by renewed demand for capital goods such as industrial engines and aerospace equipment.

On the back of the improved export situation, 22 per cent of manufacturers reported total orders were above normal compared to 34 per cent who said they were below normal, producing a balance of minus 12. Although negative, this maintains the slowly improving trend seen since the turn of the year and is comparable to April's balance (-11), which was the strongest since February 2005 (-10).

Reflecting this picture of relatively healthy global demand, manufacturers expect the total volume of output to increase over the next three months (a balance of +10).