The UK manufacturing sector logged a strong growth in June but the pace of expansion moderated from a record high, final survey results from IHS Markit showed on Thursday.
The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped slightly to 63.9 in June from May's record high of 65.6. The reading was below the flash estimate of 64.2.
The indicator has remained above the neutral 50.0 for 13 successive months, signaling growth in the sector.
Production increased at marked rates across the consumer, intermediate and investment goods industries in June. Growth was supported by strong intakes of new business, which rose at a rate close to May's record high.
New export orders increased again, reflecting inflows of new work from mainland Europe, the US and Asia.
Employment advanced at a rate close to May's record high in June. Almost 63 percent of companies expect production to rise over the coming year, indicating reduced uncertainty regarding COVID-19 and Brexit and improving global market conditions.
Data showed that the industry was still beset by supply-chain and distribution difficulties, however, leading to longer vendor lead times and disruption to production schedules.
Average input costs rose at the fastest pace in the survey history. The pass-through of higher input costs led to the fastest increase in selling prices since charges data were first collected in November 1999.
"The continued inflationary impact of capacity issues at both manufacturers and their suppliers will be a further factor keeping headline inflation above the Bank of England's 2% target in coming months," Rob Dobson, a director at IHS Markit, said.
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