Manufacturers tell Brown to keep their costs down

MANUFACTURERS today pleaded with Chancellor Gordon Brown not to slap any more costs on the industry in his pre-Budget report this week after research revealed growing uncertainty in the sector.

Trade body the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) said firms were less confident about the coming months despite enjoying strong growth in the final quarter of the year, which saw an increase in exports.

The EEF's latest quarterly survey showed firms continued to raise output in the last three months, while orders picked up at their fastest pace in two years, encouraging some companies to put up their prices.

However, expectations for the next three months are much more subdued with a balance of just six per cent of firms expecting output to rise - its lowest this year - amid an expected decline in domestic orders and a slowdown in export orders.

There were signs of a slowing world economy, the EEF confirmed.

And it said that any continuation in the slowdown of the US economy - the world's biggest - could hurt order books and threaten more jobs in the new year.