UWrap, one of the country’s top providers of shrink wrap machinery, has commented on news that manufacturing growth slowed in July.

The month of July represented the slowest rate of growth seen in the manufacturing sector in a year, potentially the result of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict and prospective higher home interest rates, a study has suggested.

The Market/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), an index designed to measure the health of the manufacturing sector, dropped from 57.2 in June to 55.4 in July, representing the worst month on record since July of last year. The figure is also down on previous forecasts.

Many experts, including the Bank of England, expected that growth in the sector would slow down at some point.

However, a number of people also believe that the fall could be a result of external forces, including doubt in the European market and the current situation in Ukraine, as well as fears that the government in Britain may well constrict monetary policy.

Markit senior economist, Rob Dobson, said:

“It remains too early to gauge the impact of the Ukraine crisis, but the worry is that the combined effects of expected policy tightening, heightened economic uncertainty and sluggish trade could mean manufacturing growth could suddenly weaken more than expected.”

EEF chief economist, Lee Hopley, was more optimistic, saying:

“It shouldn’t set off any alarm bells as the indicator is still consistent with a decent pace of growth across the sector and continued prospects for more job creation.”

UWrap, a company at the forefront of the shrink wrap machinery community, often comments on industry-related news. As a supplier of shrink wrapping units, UWrap is sometimes affected by the health of the manufacturing sector. But a representative for the company believes that while the figures were poor, they come on the back of a series of consecutive positive months and are not a concern for the company, stating:

 “There are many factors at play here which is why for most in the manufacturing, or those that work with and depend on a healthy manufacturing sector in some capacity, there is little concern. We’ve recently seen very strong and prolonged positive growth in the industry but while we’d all love infinite growth the reality is that every now and then you will have periods without it.

“As a manufacturer ourselves – one that provides a service to other manufacturers at that – we’ve been very busy this year, and the same was true of July. Within the industry there’s a real appetite for growth and expansion and we’re optimistic that the Great British manufacturing sector will continue to reach new heights.”

UWrap sells new and used wrapping units. They also provide hire, on-site repairs and machine revamp solutions. Discover more about UWrap and the shrink wrap packing solutions that they offer by visiting their website at www.uwrapmachines.co.uk.