UK factories stockpile for #Brexit at fastest pace in at least 60 years - #CBI

With Brexit looming, British factories stockpiled over the last three months at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they’re increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed last week, writes Andy Bruce.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey added to signs that Brexit and a slowdown in the global economy has lumbered manufacturers, who account for 10 percent of the British economy, with a headache.

Expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The CBI’s gauges for stocks of raw materials, work in progress and finished goods all hit record highs — findings mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

For a graphic, click here.

Official data suggest stockpiling, intended to minimize any disruption to supply lines in the event of a no-deal Brexit, temporarily boosted manufacturing output in early 2019, but business surveys show factories are bracing for a lull later.

The CBI’s monthly gauge of manufacturing orders fell unexpectedly to -5 in April from +1 in March, marking the weakest reading since October 2018. A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to a rise to +3.