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May saw UK manufacturing industry bounce back

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The S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI rebounded back into positive territory in May at 51.3, which is also a 22-month high.

It was 49.1 in April.

The data used to calculate the PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) were gathered from questionnaires completed by a panel of approximately 650 manufacturers between the 9th and 21st of May. Values over 50 indicate growth, while values under 50 indicate decline.

Manufacturers have had to deal with rising input costs, particularly energy costs, in the recent period, making it especially useful to switch to energy-efficient lubricant solutions like the Mobil DTE 10 Excel series of hydraulic oil. The manufacturing output index also recovered well in May, rising from 49.4 to 52.7.

S&P Global Market Intelligence’s chief business economist, Chris Williamson, said that the data from the survey would be in line with a 0.3% rise in GDP for this quarter and signals that manufacturing is reviving. He added:

“With companies now reporting the slowest price growth in over three years, and headline inflation falling close to target, the data supports the view that the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates in August—providing the data continues to move in the right direction over the summer.”

S&P Global noted that the survey respondents had cited indications of emerging recovery in inventory purchases and export sales, as well as increased client demand, as driving the increase in output.

The PMI for business activity within UK services fared a little worse, however, dropping from 55.0 in April to 52.9 in May.

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