Make UK comment on PMI data

Commenting on the latest PMI data, James Brougham, Senior Economist at Make UK, said:

“These figures represent an expected cooling of performance following an unexpected positive blip in January due to extraordinary supply chain easing at the start of the year. The somewhat pedestrian performance of the headline PMI this month is overshadowed, however, by the medium to long-term implications of falling export demand for UK goods, something that has been seen for sixteen months now in the data.

“With powerful domestic manufacturing policies in place in the US and the EU, manufacturers can see that the likelihood of much export expansion to the UK’s biggest manufactured goods trading partners is dwindling. UK firms are eagerly awaiting both the UK’s response to these global economy-shifting policies, but perhaps more importantly, a unified vision from Government for the sector over the next decade, with the long-term policies to boot.”