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Figures from the ONS have shown that manufacturing output has risen in March, despite the overall decrease in industrial output.

Manufacturing output rose by 0.9%, after falling 1.1% in February.

Other sectors, such as chemicals, computers and electronics fell behind in recovering.

A fall in oil and gas production meant that the industrial production fell 0.3%

Philip Shaw from Investec said: "It's encouraging to see that manufacturing almost recovered its February loses in March, although taken over Q1 [the first quarter] as a whole, the sector remains flat,"

"The outlook for manufacturing has been clouded by differing messages from varying surveys. So for example the CBI quarterly survey was punchy but the most recent PMI [purchasing managers' index] figures suggest the sector is doing barely anything," he said.

The senior economist at the EFF, Andrew Johnson, said the data suggests that manufacturing is in a better position than it was in 2011.

"… The challenges clearly remain formidable” he said, “especially with regard to major European markets”.

Source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18018037