UK industrial output jumps

British industrial production rebounded sharply last month on the re-opening of a major North Sea pipeline, official data showed Friday. Output jumped 1.3 percent in January from activity in December, reversing the previous monthly slump that had been sparked by the pipeline's closure, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
Manufacturing output, which excludes mining and quarrying, electricity, gas and water supply, added 0.1 percent in January, the ONS added. On industrial production, "mining and quarrying provided the largest upward contribution, increasing by 23.5 percent due mainly to the re-opening of the Forties oil pipeline", the ONS said.
The pipe - carrying 40 percent of North Sea oil and gas output - had been shut for three weeks in December for repairs following a hairline crack. That had sent industrial output plunging 1.3 percent in December from November. "With the closure of the Forties pipeline for much of December and its reopening the subsequent month, a rebound in industrial production was expected," said EY ITEM Club economist Howard Archer.
In a separate data release Friday, the ONS revealed that the UK trade deficit had worsened in recent months. Britain's deficit in goods and services - the gap between exports and imports - widened by £3.4 billion ($4.7 billion, 3.8 billion euros) to £8.7 billion in the three months to January. The deterioration was partly due to jumping fuel imports from non-European Union countries and sliding fuel exports due to the Forties shutdown.