The manufacturing sector grew faster than expected at the end of 2016 as the UK economy continued to defy worries of a downturn following the Brexit vote.
Output from the sector grew by 2.1% in December, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, and was up 1.2% in the October-to-December quarter.
However, the ONS warned that December's figure was boosted by output from the "volatile" pharmaceuticals sector.
Separate ONS data showed the UK's trade deficit narrowed in December.
The deficit in goods and services fell to £3.3bn from £3.6bn in November. The ONS said this improvement was mainly due to a £1.1bn increase in exports of goods to non-EU countries.
For the October-to-December quarter, the deficit narrowed by £5.6bn to £8.6bn.
