UK manufacturing PMI falls to lowest level since February 2013 in June

According to the report from IHS Markit/CIPS, the UK manufacturing sector continued to feel the reverberations of the unwinding of earlier pre-Brexit stockpiling activity during June. The already high stock levels at both manufacturers and their clients led to a scaling back of output and new order intakes, with demand from both domestic and export markets weakening.

At 48.0 in June, down from 49.4 in May, the headline seasonally adjusted PMI fell for the third consecutive month to its lowest level since February 2013. The PMI has posted below the no-change mark for two months in a row, the first back to-back declines since early 2013.

Manufacturing production contracted at the fastest pace since October 2012. Output was lowered in response to reduced intakes of new business, which fell to the greatest extent for almost seven years. New export orders declined for the third straight month and at a rate close to May's four-and-a-half year high. Business optimism dipped to its third-lowest level in the series history during June. That said, a number of companies still maintain a positive outlook. Employment fell for the third straight month in June, with job losses seen in the intermediate and investment goods sectors. Backlogs of work fell at one of the fastest rates for six-and a-half years. June saw a further increase in stocks of finished goods, although the rate of growth was down sharply from earlier in the year.