UK Manufacturing Output Contracts Again in June - Markit

Britain's fragile manufacturing industry is still contracting, according to a private industry survey, though at a slower rate than before.

It signals that the country's recession may extend into its third consecutive quarter, after GDP figures for the last three months of 2011 were revised down putting the country deeper in economic turmoil than previously thought.

The latest purchasing managers index (PMI) figure for manufacturing came in at 48.6 in June, up from the three-year-low of 45.9 in May, reported the survey's compilers, Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS).

Any figure below the neutral 50 mark represents a contraction, while anything over signifies expansion.

"Manufacturing is seeing lots of volatility at the moment, due to factors such as the jubilee holidays, making it very difficult to see what the underlying trend is, "Rob Dobson, Senior Economist at Markit, said.

He added that there is "no denying that the second quarter as a whole is looking weaker than the first quarter" and that manufacturing output "may have contracted by at least 0.5%" which would mean a "substantial drag on the economy".

Exports have been on the decline, reflected by both PMI and official data.

Latest Office for National Statistics figures show UK exports dropping by a seasonally adjusted rate of 7.1 percent.

Slowing growth in the big emerging economies, such as China and India, has hurt exports.

Chancellor George Osborne eyes these markets as a possible route to economic recovery and has said he wants to increase the value of UK exports to £1tn across the decade.

Continuing crisis in the eurozone, Britain's biggest trading partner, is also weighing on the country's export industry.

Some hope for export businesses lays in one of the new Treasury-backed Bank of England credit easing schemes.

"Funding for Lending", which was announced by the Bank's governor Mervyn King at his annual Mansion House speech, should launch in the next few weeks.

It will see around £80bn made available to banks in the form of cheaper than market rate loans.

These loans will be made available to those banks who are lending more to consumers and businesses, who the Treasury believes are in desperate need of credit.

King said it will offer a "significant financial incentive" to banks to lend, though also cautioned that there are "no guarantees" the scheme will work.

"The more they expand lending, the cheaper it will be to borrow money," he told MPs at a recent Treasury Select Committee hearing.

As well as fresh credit easing the Bank is imminently expected to increase its quantitative easing programme by another £50bn, bringing it to a total target of £375bn.