A second lockdown triggered the slowest regional expansion in business activity since the recovery from the pandemic outbreak began.
New order growth eased to the softest it has been for five months in June, the NatWest Yorkshire & Humber Business Activity Index has revealed.
The seasonally adjusted measure of the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors registered 51.7 in November, down from 53.9 in October.
At the sub-sector level, growth at manufacturing firms eased but still outpaced that recorded by service providers - at the strongest level in the UK.
Yorkshire & Humber was one of five of the 12 home regions to record expansion as the country as a whole posted a marginal contraction. It had also been anticipated to hit reverse in October's release.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that some companies were still benefiting from a release of pent up demand which had accumulated during the first lockdown.
Heather Waters, who sits on the NatWest North Regional Board, said: “Amid the imposition of fresh Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, it was unsurprising to see output growth slow during November. In fact, to produce any form of activity expansion was impressive given the barriers to operating at full capacity under lockdown restrictions. The performance of Yorkshire & Humber relative to other regions of the UK highlights the local economy's resilience and ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
"Meanwhile, the prospect of an effective vaccine had Yorkshire & Humber businesses in buoyant mood. Optimism towards the 12-month business outlook was the strongest of any monitored region in the UK."
It is not the first time the region has led on business sentiment coming out of the pandemic.
This time out the degree of positivity was the strongest since January 2017.
Staff numbers have continued to fall in the month, extending the current run of job shedding that began in March, though it has been the softest in the sequence.
Cost burdens continued to rise markedly in the latest survey period, with the rate of input price inflation the quickest for three months and elevated compared to the national average. The panel heard it was predominantly driven by higher raw material prices.
