U.K. Manufacturing Demand Falls to Lowest This Year, CBI Says

U.K. manufacturing demand fell to the weakest this year in May and the outlook “deteriorated sharply,” the Confederation of British Industry said.

An index of factory orders dropped to minus 17 from minus 8 in April, the employers’ group in London said in a report today. That’s the lowest since December. A gauge of export orders slipped to minus 12, the lowest since January, from minus 10.

The International Monetary Fund said yesterday that Britain’s economy faces “large” risks from the euro-area debt crisis and may require further stimulus from the Bank of England and the government. While the central bank stopped expanding stimulus this month, Governor Mervyn King has said that the U.K. is in “turbulent waters.”

The CBI’s gauge of expected output for the next three months slumped to minus 3 in May, the lowest since December, from 24 in April, while a measure of expected selling prices rose to 12 from 7. An index of stocks stocks fell to 13 from 14.

The CBI conducted the survey of 451 manufacturers between April 25 and May 16.

To contact the reporter on this story: Svenja O’Donnell in London at sodonnell@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net