Britain’s manufacturing sector recovery is largely caused by increasing demand at home rather than from abroad as exports continue to be weak.
A report from the manufacturers organisation EEF upgraded its growth forecast for the sector in 2014 to a 3.6% rise in output in 2014. The previous estimate was 2.7%. But firms reported fewer export orders, and are relying on the accelerating domestic economic recovery – which the Bank of England predicts will see 3% GDP growth over the year – for sales.
The poor export performance was attributed to a combination of limited growth in Europe, a bad start to the year in the US and a strengthening exchange rate.