Scottish manufacturing suffers its biggest sales fall in four years
Scotland’s manufacturing sector is suffering as it has just recorded its sharpest fall in new orders for four years. This correlates with the decline in employment, which has dropped at the fastest pace since early 2011.
The Confederation of British Industry’s most recent Scottish industrial trends survey shows that this sector also recorded a steep fall in output in the past three months, with both national and export orders dwindling.
21 percent of manufacturers north of the border reported this drop, with 19 percent admitting lower output numbers.
The CBI’s survey covers the entire UK and showed manufacturing falls nationwide, but none as significant as in Scotland. Despite this, employment numbers are marginally up.
The survey shows that seven percent of Scottish manufacturers predict continued falling numbers of skilled employees.