The UK's £56 billion construction products manufacturing industry made a slow start to 2018, according to new research.

The Construction Products Association's (CPA) latest State of Trade Survey for 2018 Q1 shows how issues such as the collapse of Carillion, as well as several days of disrupted activity due to snow and freezing temperatures, resulted in weak sales and a muted performance.

Heavy side manufacturers recorded the lowest balance in five years with 15% of firms reporting a decline in sales from January to March, following a previous quarter of falling sales in 2017 Q4. For light side manufacturers, no firms on balance reported either an increase or a decrease, which was the weakest performance since 2013 Q2. With construction product sales acting as an early indicator of wider construction activity, the results signal a noticeable dip in total industry output for the quarter.

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However, manufacturers are forecasting a return to growth in the future, yet rising costs will continue to act as a headwind. Overall, 90% of heavy side manufacturers and 84% of those on the light side reported a rise in raw materials costs in Q1, whilst the same proportions reported an increase in wages and salaries. In addition, fuel costs rose for 90% of heavy side manufacturers.

Rebecca Larkin, CPA Senior Economist, said it was unlikely heavy side manufacturers would have avoided disruption caused by the bad weather.

"It was always unlikely that heavy side manufacturers would avoid the snow disruption, with aggregates quarries unable to operate and pauses in activities such as groundworks and bricklaying affecting demand for products and materials from construction sites," she said.

"In addition, manufacturing capacity in this energy-intensive sector of the industry is likely to have been temporarily reduced by the National Grid’s gas deficit warning at the beginning of March.

"It appears from the forward-looking indicators that Q1 was just a weather-related blip, as 42% of heavy side manufacturers anticipate sales rising in Q2 and 37% see sales rising over the next 12 months. However, no light side manufacturers expect sales to increase in the next quarter and only 16% anticipate a rise over the course of the year, likely to reflect the lagged impact of any pauses in activity in Q1 on demand for these non-structural and finishing products that tend to be used nearer the end of the building process."

(LM/MH)