The UK manufacturing sector is continuously performing well on a relatively weak currency. The manufacturers in UK have reported their first significant quarterly growth in past two and half years.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) revealed today in its quarterly SME Trends Survey that more than one third of Britain's small and medium sized firms said that they had reported an increase in total orders in the three months to April 2010.

According to the quarterly SME Trends Survey of CBI, 36% of the total small and medium sized firms surveyed said that their total orders grew in the past three months to April, while 26% said they had reported a decline in total orders. The positive balance of 10% showed that total orders were reported up in the recently ended quarter, reporting the first quarterly growth since January 2008.

CBI said that the increased orders were mainly attributable to the increase in export order volumes. The data of CBI revealed that 33% of the firms said that their export order volumes increased in the quarter, while only 15% firms reported declined export orders.

The balance of +18 is reportedly the strongest growth since July 1995. The manufacturers said that the weakness of sterling was the main reason for the better than expected growth in export orders.