British industrial output increased by 2.3 percent between May 2013 and May 2014, with production expansion in two of the three main sectors, said Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday.
Britain saw a 3.7 percent output growth in manufacturing in May compared with the same month a year earlier, and 2.3 percent increase in water supply, sewerage & waste management sector. While mining & quarrying output decreased by 0.2 percent over the same period, said ONS.
Total production decreased by 0.7 percent between April 2014 and May 2014, manufacturing was the largest contributor, declining by 1.3 percent and registering the biggest fall since January 2013, data also showed.
In the three months to May 2014, production and manufacturing were still 11.3 percent and 7.2 percent respectively below their figures reached in the pre-downturn GDP peak in the first quarter of 2008, said the statistics arm of the government.
Industrial output contributes around 15 percent to overall economic activity of Britain.
"May's UK industrial production figures suggest that the stronger pound might be starting to slow the recovery in the manufacturing sector," said Samuel Tombs, senior British Economist at Capital Economics in a note.
The pound increased by around 11 percent against U.S. dollar in the 12 months to the end of June, acting as one of the best developed countries' currencies.
However, the near-term outlook of the manufacturing surveys still "fairly positive", underpinned by strengthening fundamentals of the sector, said Tombs.
The London-based economic research company believes that the economic recovery will receive decent support from the industrial sector over the year ahead.
Martin Beck, senior economic adviser to the EY ITEM Club, also said in an analysis piece: "The latest figures should not be a serious cause for concern. On an annual basis, industrial production continued to grow at a solid clip, as did output from the manufacturing sector."
The independent economic think-tank maintains its expectation of GDP growth of one percent in the second quarter, exceeding the pace seen in the first three months of the year.