Monday, February 10, 2003
U.K. manufacturers are facing their worst recession since the early 1990s, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The government figures indicate that factory output fell by 4 percent last year, representing the largest annual slump since 1991.
The pressure manufacturers and their suppliers are under was demonstrated by the fall in component distribution sales, which plunged by more than a quarter in 2002, according to figures published in November by industry trade body, Afdec. That represented the second consecutive year of double-digit decline.
“What we need is for our government to recognize that it is important to have a strong manufacturing sector in the U.K.," said Gary Kibblewhite, chairman of component distributor association Afdec. "They need to take positive steps to give us real competitive unique selling points over other nations with whom we compete, whether within the EU or not.”
It is the evidence of these figures, which make gloomy reading for the electronics manufacturing sector, that helped to convince the Bank of England to cut interest rates this week, after 14 months of no change.
With the slowdown in manufacturing business, the real concern is that significant job losses will follow -- a situation that can only be compounded by the continuing uncertainty over the possibility of conflict with Iraq.
By: DocMemory
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