The PMI climbed back into positive territory in June, with firms noting slightly stronger increases in production and new orders. This prompted companies to increase their purchasing activity, albeit only slightly. However, relatively muted client demand overall led manufacturers to reduce their inventory holdings and trim their workforce numbers again. At the same time, optimism towards the business outlook edged down to its lowest level in 2017 to date.

After declining in the previous month, both input costs and output charges increased at the end of the second quarter. That said, the rates of inflation were much slower than seen at the beginning of the year.

At 50.4 in June, the seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers' Index - a composite indicator designed to provide a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the manufacturing economy - moved back above the 50.0 no-change mark. This was up from 49.6 and signalled an improvement in the health of the sector after a marginal deterioration in May. Operating conditions have now strengthened in nine of the ten past months, though the latest improvement was only slight