According to data released by the Office for National Statistics, industrial production dropped 0.7% from October compared with consensus expectations for no change, marking its biggest monthly decline since early 2013.
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Britain’s makers disappointed across all sectors; however, the ONS singled out production of pharmaceutical items as a particularly hard-hit area in November, with output in that area falling by 4.9pc.
Manufacturing output has turned in its worst performance in more than two years.
The figures come after the closely-watched CIPS/Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) survey said last week that factory output ended the year by growing at its slowest pace for three months.
However, cumulative growth of 3.9% in the April-November period of 2015-16 is higher than the 1.5% seen in the corresponding period past year.
He says: “2016 looks like it will be another challenging year for United Kingdom manufacturers but they do have some positives to cling on to and notably sterling’s recent softening and very low oil and commodity prices”.
Earlier this month a report from the British Chambers of Commerce showed that manufacturing exports stagnated in late 2015 for the first time since 2009, and export growth from the powerhouse services sector also eased.
The drop in UK industrial production output is “a significant dent to hopes” that UK GDP growth is picking up, say experts, but the weakening of the sterling will help reinforce the sector in 2016.
Later this week, the Bank of England decides if 0.5% is the right level for its benchmark interest rate.
Total production output is estimated to have decreased by 0.7% between October 2015 and November 2015.
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He argued that these factors were unlikely to recede soon, meaning that manufacturing would continue to struggle this year, leaving “the economy worryingly unbalanced”.
