British industrial output increases 2.1% in May

British industrial output increased by 2.1 percent in May 2015 compared with May 2014, with the largest contribution coming from mining and quarrying sector, data showed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Tuesday.

Three out of the four main sectors saw output increase in May, with mining and quarrying output expanding by 7.3 percent, data showed.

Manufacturing output expanded by 1.0 percent in May 2015 compared with May 2014, with the largest contribution to the increase came from the manufacture of transport equipment, which increased by 11.0 percent, data showed.

Compared with output in April 2015, total production output of Britain grew by 0.4 percent in May, with three out of four main sectors increasing their outputs, figures showed.

In the three months to May, production and manufacturing were 9.2 percent and 4.6 percent respectively below their figures reached in the pre-downturn GDP peak in the first quarter of 2008, said the ONS.

Martin Beck, senior economic adviser to the EY ITEM club, said in a note that the rise in overall production was more than accounted for by a surge in oil and gas production, which followed hefty monthly rises in March and April.

"The ONS, citing evidence from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, suggested recent tax incentives announced in the Queen's speech (in May 27) could be a contributing factor to this growth," he said.

"Overall, May's number means that, even if industrial output merely held steady in June, Q2 output would still be 0.9 percent up on Q1 -- further evidence that GDP growth in Q2 should have comfortably exceeded the 0.4 percent expansion in Q1," he added.