Manufacturing sector shrinks again as firms scale back against low orders

But in a month of ‘two halves’, supply chain wait times showed the biggest improvement in three decades.

The data revealed important signs of improvement for the industry (PA) (PA Archive)

The UK’s manufacturing sector contracted further in March amid subdued demand, but supplier delivery times showed the biggest improvement in more than three decades.

It was a month of “two halves”, according to the closely followed Manufacturing PMI survey, which recorded another period of contraction for the hard-hit industry.

The survey, compiled by S&P Global and CIPS UK, scored 47.9 in March, down from February’s seven-month high of 49.3 and the flash estimate of 48.