British industrial increases 0.9%

British industrial output grew 0.9 percent between August and September thanks to the strong performance of manufacturing sector, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday. The figure was higher than the previous market prediction of 0.5 percent growth in industrial production in the period. According to the ONS statistics, output in the industrial sector, which makes up about a sixth of Britain's economy, increased by 2.2 percent year on year in September, which was the sharpest growth since January 2011. In breakdown, production was up 11.5 percent in mining and quarrying; up 0.8 percent in manufacturing; up 7.1 percent in water supply, sewerage & waste management; but down 3.4 percent in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning. Production output rose by 0.6 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the previous quarter. The ONS said the largest contribution to the quarterly growth in production came from manufacturing, which increased by 0.9 percent. The main manufacturing sectors contributing to the industrial output rise in September were the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations; the manufacture of transport equipment; and the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, said the ONS. Manufacturing rose by 1.2 percent between August and September. British industrial production declined out of market expectation in August, posing a 1.5 percent decrease compared with the same period of last year, and a 1.1 percent fall from the previous month.