UK manufacturing output tumbled by 0.6 per cent month-on-month in March, official figures show, a much worse outcome than the stagnant position forecast by economists.

And the Office for National Statistics yesterday revised the fall in UK manufacturing output in February from 0.1 per cent to 0.3 per cent.

Broader industrial production, which includes mining and quarrying, oil and gas extraction, and electricity, gas and water supply as well as manufacturing output, dropped by 0.5 per cent in March. Oil and gas extraction rose by 2.1 per cent month-on-month.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research yesterday estimated UK gross domestic product would have grown by only 0.2 per cent during the February to April period, compared with the preceding three months. ONS figures have shown UK growth more than halved to 0.3 per cent in the first quarter from 0.7 per cent in the final three months of last year.

Separate figures published yesterday by the ONS showed the UK’s global goods trade deficit widened to £13.4 billion in March, from £11.4bn in February, as imports rose by significantly more than exports.

The March goods trade deficit was much worse than the £11.8bn deficit forecast by economists.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Markit, said: “A ropey set of March data for the UK economy that point to a poor end to a disappointing first quarter.

“The poor data dilute any hopes that markedly slower GDP growth of 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter could be revised up.”