LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - British manufacturing output fell at its fastest rate for a calendar quarter since records began in 1948 in the first 3 months of 2009, though the monthly decline was better than expected, official data showed on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics said manufacturing output fell 0.1 percent on the month in March, beating analysts' forecasts for a decline of 0.8 percent.
The wider industrial production measure of output fell 0.6 percent, again better than forecasts for a 0.8 percent fall.
But on a calendar quarter basis, industrial output fell 5.3 percent in the first manufacturing output fell 0.1 percent on the month in March, beating analysts' forecasts for a decline of 0.8 percent.
However the ONS said this would not materially affect British first quarter GDP figures, which have shown a decline of 1.9 percent on the quarter.
Separate figures showed that Britain's trade deficit improved more than expected last month.
The March trade in goods deficit improved to 6.589 billion pounds from 6.834 billion in February. The ONS said it was too early to be sure if weaker sterling was behind the improvement. It noted that both exports and imports fell.