BRITAIN'S manufacturing slowdown is hitting the service sector where export sales and orders have reached "rock bottom", a survey said yesterday.

The quarterly survey, by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), showed service firms' export sales plummeted last quarter to the lowest for a decade, while there was a significant decline in orders over the coming months.

On its scale - where figures are calculated by subtracting the percentage of firms reporting falls from those reporting a rise - export sales for the fourth quarter of last year fell from plus one, recorded the previous quarter, to minus seven. Orders fell from plus one to minus eight.

Home sales continued to slide, dropping from plus 23 to plus 17, while orders slid from plus 14 to plus ten.

The BCC survey of 7,182 firms showed manufacturing investment in machinery was at a decade low, falling from zero to minus five, while service sector investment was equally poor, with investment in equipment down from plus 11 to plus eight.

Jobs have also deteriorated in both sectors. Manufacturers reported shedding jobs for the third quarter in a row, down minus six to minus 12, while job growth in the service sector is at its worst since early 1999, down from plus 16 to plus eight.

l MANUFACTURING sales at home and abroad declined in the North-East in the last three months of last year, the British Chamber of Commerce said last night.

However, export sales remained above the national level while service sector domestic sales growth is higher than all other regions.

Meanwhile, the BCC reported that the manufacturing sector in Yorkshire and the Humber saw a distinct downturn in the home market with a decrease in the proportion of firms reporting an improvement in home sales and orders.

The manufacturing sector has also performed poorly in export markets, with a large proportion of manufacturers reporting a decrease in export sales and orders