Manufacturing output rose 0.8 per cent in February, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday.
Industrial production rose by more than expected in February, but the trade gap widened, official data has shown.
Industrial production rose by one per cent in February compared with the month before, but was still down 2.2 per cent from a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Manufacturing output, which is one of the components of the index of production, rose 0.8 per cent from January.
Separate figures from the ONS showed that the trade gap widened in February.
The UK’s goods trade deficit widened to £9.4bn in February from January’s £8.2bn, dragged down by a 4.7 per cent fall in exports of goods to non-EU countries.
The overall production index was lifted by the biggest rise in the production of electricity and gas since October, helped by the prolonged spell of cold weather.
And all the sectors that are collated to make up the overall industrial production figure – including mining and quarrying, energy supply and waste management — saw an increase in February, the first time this has happened since July last year.
Despite the month-on-month improvement, industrial output is still only at the same level as September last year.
However, economists said that the improvement could be enough to avoid the UK slipping into a second successive quarter of declining growth.
The UK’s economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the last three months of 2012, with weak industrial production the main drag.
If the economy contracts during the first quarter of this year then it will be back in recession for the third time in five years.
Commenting on the industrial production figures, Ross Walker from RBS said: “It’s hardly a dramatic recovery but it does look to be avoiding a symbolic triple dip recession.”
The first official estimate of gross domestic product for January to March is due on April 25.
