Are specialist manufacturers through the worst?

The UK’s manufacturing sector contains a subset of companies that most people have never heard of. These businesses make highly specialised electrical devices and – further down the food chain – individual electronic components. Think micro-circuits, switches, cables, sensors and resistors. 

Demand for these types of products surged in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, when supply chains snarled up and customers increased their stock levels to guard against more disruption. Orders waned last year, however, as the same customers worked through excess inventories against a gloomy economic backdrop.