London: British industrial output rose twice as fast as expected in February, recovering from snow-related disruption in January to post its biggest monthly rise since September, official data showed yesterday.

Industrial production rose 1.0 per cent on the month after a 0.5 per cent fall in January, boosted by electrical and optical equipment, cement and brick production as well as food and drink, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The narrower measure of manufacturing output, which excludes energy production, jumped 1.3 per cent on the month after a 1.0 per cent decline in January — also the biggest monthly rebound since last September.

"It's clearly a bounce back after the weather-related weakness in January," said Amit Kara, economist at UBS. "In the medium term we expect this momentum of growth to be sustained, in part because of the cyclical recovery but also because of the weaker currency."

Sterling, which has shed a quarter of its value since mid-2007, jumped on the figures, hitting its highest level against the euro for seven weeks.

Britain suffered its harshest winter in 30 years in January when heavy snow made roads impassable and many schools and businesses were forced to close.

The ONS said the fall in production that month was slightly bigger than it originally estimated.

Recession

Yesterday's figures support the view that the economy's poor start to the year was mainly due to the weather rather than heralding a new downturn after Britain's deepest recession since the Second World War.

The Bank of England has warned that data in the first few months of this year will be volatile.