A deterioration in activity across the manufacturing sector has intensified as fresh data has revealed export work grinding to a standstill and investment stagnating.
S&P Global's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for manufacturing in September demonstrated the sector was still battling to recover despite some subdued optimism in recent months.
Activity in the sector plummeted to a five-month low owing to a decline in orders at one of the "greatest extents in the past two years", with the PMI reading tumbling to 46.2 – considerably below the 50-figure benchmark for neutrality in output.
READ MORE: {}
Disruption triggered by a cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover had knock-on effects across the broader manufacturing sector, according to researchers.
Tariffs and elevated energy costs also dampened client confidence, as reported by .
S&P Global highlighted that export orders from all of the US, the EU, the Middle East and Asia had contracted at one of the swiftest rates in years.
Employment also declined for the eleventh successive month owing to the pressures of a higher national minimum wage and Rachel Reeves' hike to employers' national insurance contributions (NICs).
Rob Dobson, a director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said new data provided "further worrying news for the health of 海角视频 industry". He said: "Manufacturers are facing an increasingly challenging environment, with intakes of new business and levels of production hit by weak market sentiment, a dearth of new export work and a high-cost environment exacerbated by tax and labour cost rises.
Most Read
"Companies entwined into the autos supply chain are also facing a temporary hit to activity following the cyber-attack on JLR.
"Confidence about the next 12 months remains at a relatively subdued level, job losses have been recorded in each of the past 11 months, and a further cut in purchasing activity is symptomatic of a focus on trimming non-essential spending."
A positive development was that cost price increases had decelerated, potentially paving the way for interest rate reductions to "help offset any higher taxes announced in November's Budget", Dobson noted. .
Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy, suggested some of the identified weaknesses "may be overstated" as the JLR incident could represent a "temporary blow" and the PMI might amplify risks during periods of heightened uncertainty preceding Budgets.
However, Beck observed: "The bigger picture is harder to ignore. The official measure of 海角视频 manufacturing output is barely higher than before the financial crisis all the way back in 2008.
"海角视频 firms are paying the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world, while carmakers in particular are being squeezed by the government's net-zero mandate, aggressive Chinese competition and US trade policy.
"Manufacturing accounts for only 10 per cent of the 海角视频 economy, so the direct drag of the sector's weakness on GDP is modest. But its role in driving innovation and productivity means persistent manufacturing weakness risks leaving broader scars on the 海角视频's long-term growth prospects."