Britain's industrial output falls 3.8 %

Britain's industrial production dropped by 3.8 percent in January year on year, the 11th consecutive fall, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Friday. According to the ONS, production of the mining and quarrying and the energy sectors fell by 21.3 percent and 9.3 percent respectively. The manufacturing sector increased by 0.3 percent and water and waste management sector increased by 0.5 percent. The seasonally adjusted index of production fell by 0.4 percent between December 2011 and January 2012, according to the ONS. Mining and quarrying fell on the month by 3.0 percent and the energy sector fell by 1.2 percent. Manufacturing and water and waste management sectors increased by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. The rise in manufacturing output mainly came from the manufacture of transport equipment, which rose by 6.7 percent, contributing 0.7 percentage points to the rise.