United Kingdom manufacturing emerges as bright spot during bleak July

Meanwhile, mining and quarrying output fell 1.2 percent.

Growth in the broader measure of industrial output slowed to 0.2% from 0.5%, due to an easing back in oil and gas extraction after a spike in June.

Year-on-year, industrial production growth improved marginally to 0.4 percent in July from 0.3 percent in June. Manufacturing provided the largest upward contribution, increasing by 1.9%.

"Manufacturing remains relatively subdued since the start of the year, though July showed the first significant monthly growth of 2017, with vehicle production increasing partly thanks to new models rolling off the production lines", said ONS senior statistician Kate Davies. July, though, showed the first significant monthly growth of 2017. Construction output fell for the fourth month in a row.

It said this was due to a widening of the goods trade deficit by £1.1bn, partially offset by an increase in the services trade surplus by £0.7bn.

Experts said the official data suggested that the economy was unlikely to show much improvement from its sluggish first six months, which was the slowest start to the year since 2012. The pace of expansion was forecast to accelerate to 1.7 percent in July.

But overall production - which is what matters for gross domestic product (GDP) - posted a smaller 0.2% monthly gain.

She describes this morning's trade figures as fairly disappointing.

The stronger-than-expected manufacturing output growth in July boosted the pound against the dollar by 0.76% to $1.32. "The underlying trend in export volumes appears to have weakened over the summer - despite brisk growth in the eurozone - and imports are continuing to rise at a similar rate". Economists had forecast a moderate growth of 0.3 percent after stagnation in June.

However, separate ONS data showed the construction industry is continuing to struggle with output falling - for the fourth consecutive month - by 0.9% in July because of a lack of new projects. Echoing Ruth Gregory he says that export data also disappointed somewhat.