Manufacturing growth 'flat' in August

Some of August's weakness has been put down to longer summer shutdowns in the car sector

The manufacturing recovery is showing more signs of running out of steam as the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed factory output barely grew in August.

The ONS said manufacturing rose by 0.1% on the previous month, although the figure was still 3.9% higher than a year ago.

Economists warned there was a slowing trend in the UK's goods-producing sector, even though the ONS put some of August's weakness down to longer than usual summer shutdowns for maintenance in the car sector.

Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said: "The disappointing reading is not a one-off. Manufacturing output in the three months to August was also flat on the prior three month period. Back in April, this three-month growth rate had hit 1.9%."

The ONS said the wider measure of industrial production, which includes the energy sector, was unchanged on the previous month.

It was revealed earlier that German industrial production fell by 4% in August, its steepest drop since the height of the financial crisis in 2009.