Britain's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing sector declined to 50.5 in April from 51.9 in the previous month.

Although the April PMI figure was below that of March, it is still above the neutral 50, indicating continuous growth in the manufacturing sector in the country for five successive months, according to a Markit/CIPS market sensitive report issued Tuesday.

A PMI reading above 50 denotes growth, while a reading below 50 suggests contraction. The slowdown in manufacturing output growth was partly blamed for weaker overseas demand in new export orders, Xinhua reported.

The report said the total number of new order fell slightly for the first time in five months in April. This mainly reflected a sharp drop in new export business, the steepest since May 2009, resulting from weaker demand from mainland Europe, the US and East Asia.

At the same time average output price inflation continued to accelerate in April.