UK manufacturing downturn eases as PMI shows signs of stabilisation
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Tuesday 01 Jul 2025
(Sharecast News) - The downturn in UK manufacturing eased slightly in June as rates of decline in output, new orders and employment all slowed, while business optimism rose.
According to the S&P Global, the UK manufacturing purchasing managers' index increased to 47.7 last month, in line with the flash reading released a week earlier and the highest print in five months.
This was the third straight improvement in the headline PMI since it reached a one-and-a-half-year low of 44.9 in March, but the eight consecutive month of contraction - indicated by any figure below 50.0.
Four out of the five PMI components - output, new orders, employment and stocks of purchases - continued to fall but at a slower rate than the previous month, while vendor lead times lengthened at their lowest rate since March. Meanwhile, business optimism increased to a four-month high.
S&P Global said that manufacturing production was lower for the eighth straight month, as companies scaled back output in response to "weak market conditions, clients offsetting higher costs through reduced demand and uncertainty surrounding government policy, tariffs and the general economic/geopolitical situation".
Nevertheless, Rob Dobson, director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, the PMI survey "provides signs of conditions stabilising".
"The orders-to-inventory ratio, a reliable bellwether of future production trends, also climbed sharply to its highest since August 2024. Inflation of both input costs and selling prices meanwhile nudged lower to hint at a softening inflation trend," he said.
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