The survey shows that while the economic environment has been somewhat turbulent export orders nudged back into positive territory for the first time since the second quarter of 2014.
EEF chief economist, Lee Hopley, said: "The key message this quarter is that things are still looking reasonably positive across manufacturing. We have had eight consecutive quarters of positive balances as far as output levels in industry go and that has been reflected in official statistics over the course of 2014.
"We have seen a little bit of weakening in sentiment – a number of surveys and the official data towards the end of 2014 and I think that was starting to raise some concerns that perhaps 2015 might be a bit more challenging with a lot of uncertainties in the global economy in particular. However, that doesn't really appear to have materialised and our key indicators are all positive and all above the long term average that have been in the history of our survey."
She added: "The other positive to draw your attention to is what's happening on exports because that has been a real weak point in our survey over the last couple of years, particularly in the second half of 2014 when we actually saw a balance of companies saying that export orders were in decline, but that turned around at the start of 2015. It's a small positive balance, but it is still positive so there are indications that we could start to see a bit more momentum happening on the UK's trade performance."
A key economic development in recent quarters has been the sharp fall in the oil price – hailed as a boon for consumers, but with some negative consequences for manufacturers in the oil and gas supply chain. The EEF survey highlights the more challenging domestic demand environment this has created for sectors with a high exposure to delayed or cancelled investments in the North Sea.
Richard May, partner and head of the manufacturing sector at DLA Piper, said: "As a global law firm, it is particularly pleasing for us to see new export orders growing alongside a generally positive outlook for the British manufacturing sector with companies still intending to recruit and invest. It will be interesting to see what impact the result of the UK general election has on the outlook for manufacturers in the next quarterly EEF/DLA Piper survey."
