THE recovery in Britain's manufacturing sector suffered a jolt after new figures showed a sharp fall in output.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) bucked the recent trend of positive survey data by reporting a 0.8 per cent fall in manufacturing output during March.

Significant declines in activity in the chemicals and transport equipment industries were blamed for the fall.

Analysts, who had been expecting a rise in output of around 0.2 per cent, said the downbeat figures ended any chance of a rise in interest rates from the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee today.

Philip Shaw, economist at Investec bank, said: "This is a major shock given recent survey evidence had suggested manufacturing was rising out of recession.

"Now we are left with considerable uncertainty about whether it really is recovering and about the pace of the recovery in the economy as a whole."

The fall comes a month after manufacturing output rose for the first time since August with a month-on-month increase of 0.2 per cent during February.