The rise in output has been driven by a pick-up in capital goods production and intermediate goods and energy, says a report in the Financial Times, suggesting that companies in the UK and abroad are investing more in equipment.

The news comes coincides with calls for the new government to appoint a minister for manufacturing to ensure the sector’s long term future and ensure the sector’s heartlands can play a full role in future economic prosperity. The call came from James Newman, head of the Sheffield-based Company of Cutlers which represents, South Yorkshire-based manufacturers.

He says the sector needs ‘incentives’, such as capital allowances, to enable companies hit by the recession to make investments in machinery and staff.

Of course, manufacturing continues to play a key role in the Yorkshire economy as a whole, both in terms of output and employment. In fact government figures show that there are nearly twice as many people employed in manufacturing in West Yorkshire as there are in South Yorkshire and that as a city Leeds is the UK’s second largest centre for manufacturing outside London.