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September 2021 - Industrial

Order books hit record high, whilst manufacturers struggle to meet high demand due to supply chain challenges: As order books have grown to their strongest level since 1977 when records began, output growth has continued to slow according to the latest industrial trends survey by the CBI, as manufacturers struggle to meet high demand amid supply chain back-ups.

The latest CBI survey polled 273 manufacturers and found that for output growth, a balance of plus 16% was recorded for September 2021, down from August's recording of plus 22%.

The research found that while stock levels did improve marginally from the record low levels in August, they were still week when compared to previous average figures.

The expectation of prices for the coming few months were also significantly higher than the long-run survey average of plus 3% The average price expectation in September was at a balance of plus 41%, down slightly from August (43%)

The survey also found that export order books were also at their highest level since March 2019.

Anna Leach, CBI deputy chief economist, said: “Amidst a variety of supply challenges, companies are beginning to struggle to meet high demand.

“Despite close to half of manufacturers surveyed reporting order books above normal, output growth has slowed sharply, albeit remaining relatively robust.”

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