GLOOM has descended on Yorkshire's manufacturers as the total of new orders fell markedly for the seventh time in a row.

The drop of about 20 per cent is reported in today's quarterly regional trends survey carried out by the CBI and Experian Business Strategies. Output fell by a similar proportion.

It is a particularly disappointing blow, given expectations in the last survey of a modest rise in orders, although economic analysts cling to the prediction of a "marginal upturn in orders" in the next four months.

But while export orders in Yorkshire rose a little against the downward trend of recent years, a very sharp fall in demand was now expected, according to the survey report.

Business confidence, which looked more positive in April, has now dipped into pessimism about expected sales and deliveries matched only by the gloom of the manufacturers of Scotland.

Only the East Midlands has recorded an upturn in confidence about business generally.

Updated: 11:43 Wednesday, November 13, 2002