Recording its lowest annual growth rate for 18 months, Britain's manufacturing output fell 0.3% in August compared with July.
Production rose 1.5% in August compared with 12 months earlier -- the smallest annual increase since February 2010, the Office for National Statistics said.
Industrial production overall, which includes mining and quarrying, as well as the electricity, gas and water supply sectors, rose 0.2% in August from July but dropped 1% on an annual basis.
"August is the sixth consecutive month during which industrial production has stagnated or fallen year-on-year," said Teodor Todorov, an economist at the Center for Economics and Business Research.
"While manufacturing has performed better than other industry groups, its pace of its growth is definitely slowing."
The data comes just a few days after the Bank of England injected £75 billion (US $115 billion) of new money into Britain's stalled economy in a bid to boost growth.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
