Industrial production in the UK grew 1.5% month-on-month in February, beating market forecasts, according to official data released on Thursday.
This rebound followed an upwardly revised fall of 0.5% in January, data from the Office for National Statistics showed.
Markets had expected the figure to post an increase of 0.1% in February
The rise in monthly output in February 2025 resulted from increases in manufacturing (up 2.2%), electricity and gas (up 2.0%), and water supply and sewerage (up 1.1%), it said. These were partially offset by a decrease in mining and quarrying (down 3.0%).
The monthly increase in manufacturing output during February saw increases in 10 of its 13 subsectors, with six of those 10 subsectors having fallen during January.
“The largest positive contributions to manufacturing output in February 2025 came from ‘computer, electronic and optical products’ (up 9.8%), ‘basic pharmaceutical products’ (up 4.4%) and ‘transport equipment’ (up 1.8%),” it noted.
In the three months ending in February, production output climbed 0.7% compared with the three months to November 2024.
On an annual basis, production rose 0.1% in February, despite market forecasts of a 2.3% contraction.