Office for National Statistics said, production output fell by 0.5% between November 2018 and December 2018. Economists had expected a 0.2% increase. The manufacturing sector provided the largest downward contribution with a fall of 0.7%, its strongest monthly fall since January 2017 and marking the sixth consecutive monthly decrease. The monthly decrease in manufacturing was due to falls in 9 of the 13 sub-sectors; the largest downward contribution came from pharmaceuticals (4.2%) and other manufacturing and repair (2.8%).

According to the report. production output fell by 1.1% in Quarter 4 2018, compared with Quarter 3 2018, due mainly to a fall of 0.9% in manufacturing; this is the first time since Quarter 1 2009 that all four main sectors have fallen during a quarter. The decrease of 0.9% in manufacturing in Quarter 4 2018 is the strongest fall since Quarter 4 2012; there is broad-based weakness with the largest falls in transport equipment (2.7%) and basic metals (3.0%).

In Quarter 4 2018, production output decreased by 1.0% compared with Quarter 4 2017; the weakest growth since Quarter 2 2013, driven by a fall of 1.5% from manufacturing.