The service sector in recent years has been an important driver of growth.
The sustained high level of oil and sharply increased gas prices have driven up energy and raw material costs and manufacturers are continuing to respond by cutting employment to curb the wage bill and boosting investment in efficiency-improving measures.
Only two of the 10 industry groups surveyed this month - chemicals and metal products - expect prices to rise in their sector over the coming three months. Cost pressures from high oil and transportation prices will only serve to depress profits further.
The slightly less negative recent news from the housing and retail sectors contrasts with increasing pressures on manufacturers from the high cost of fuel and materials.
A combination of weak consumer spending and challenging world markets is weighing on UK manufacturing.
Conditions for manufacturers are getting increasingly tough as costs continue their seemingly inexorable rise but weak demand keeps prices down, squeezing already thin profit margins even further.
With retailing and manufacturing both very weak, the fact that services are slowing is particularly worrying.
Christmas, in retailing terms, is coming later and later each year as consumers play chicken with the high street and delay their spending in the expectation of late price cuts as the big day draws nearer.
Copyright © 2024 Electric Goat Media. All Rights Reserved.