Manufacturing Sales (July)

Although manufacturing sales fell by 0.9% m/m in July, in line with the preliminary estimate, that was a better outcome than we had expected given the more downbeat export data. Furthermore, the decline was mainly due to a drop back in prices, with sales volumes increasing by 0.6% m/m in July, following an upwardly revised gain of 0.5% in June. Given the recent weakness in the survey data, however, we doubt this is the start of a manufacturing revival.