British industrial production smashed expectations in August

British industrial production beat analyst expectations by some distance in August, rising by 1% month-on-month, leaving output up 1.8% in the last 12 months.

For industrial production, analysts were expecting an increase of 0.3% month-on-month, which would have translated into a rise of 1.2% year-on-year.

For manufacturing, the experts forecast a 0.3% rise on the month too, but that would only have left production down by 0.1% in comparison to August last year.

Manufacturing production rose 0.5% month-on-month, but year-on-year growth was the major downside due to revisions to previous data: Output actually fell 0.8% in the 12 months to August.

That's the worst reading for manufacturing since May 2013.

Manufacturing and industrial production have been struggling around the world, and commodity prices have tumbled lower and lower this year.