The latest Purchasing Managers’ Index survey for the manufacturing sector, released at the start of this month, gave a reading of 55.3, the lowest in seven months; and while that figure is above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction, it is down on December’s reading of 56.2 (some analysts had predicted that the index would rise to 56.5).

Moreover, cost inflation recorded by companies hit an 11-month high, following increases in global commodity and oil prices; the new-orders index fell to its lowest since July 2017.

Rob Dobson of IHS Markit, which compiles the survey, said: “The UK manufacturing sector reported an unwelcome combination of slower growth and rising prices at the start of 2018.”

Meanwhile, Samuel Tombs of the London-based investment company Pantheon said: “It is too soon to call time on the manufacturing sector’s growth spurt, but this latest survey hints that the best days of the manufacturing sector’s recovery lie in the past.”

The Office for National Statistics estimates that manufacturing grew by 1.3% in the final quarter of 2017, following similar growth the previous quarter. Over 2017 as a whole, the sector is estimated to have expanded by 2.7%.