Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.5% rise in industrial output. Manufacturing showed growth of just 0.2 per cent in April over the month...
In monthly terms, industrial production grew 0.2% in April, the Office for National Statistics said.
"Looking ahead, we expect manufacturing output to revive slowly, as moderate growth in exports offsets weakness in domestic demand".
After last year's shock decision by voters to pull Britain out of the European Union, the country is now facing yet more political upheaval after Prime Minister Theresa May's unexpected failure to win a parliamentary majority.
But she added: "There is clearly a risk that today's election result leads to a weakening in growth towards the end of the second quarter".
Allan Callaghan, managing director of homebuilder Cruden Building & Renewals, said: "A decrease in output figures is not entirely unexpected, given some of the wider economic and political uncertainty now ongoing, however at Cruden we are still experiencing strong demand for housebuilding".
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That backs up the picture of the United Kingdom economy losing momentum in the first few months of the year.
The Bank of England said before the election that it expected some of the impact of slower consumer spending would be eased by stronger exports driven by the pound's fall since the Brexit vote past year.
United Kingdom manufacturing production rebounded 0.2% in April from the drop of 0.6% the previous month, though this was shy of the 0.8% improvement anticipated by economists. The expected level of shortfall was GBP 12 billion.
Exports edged down in April from March.
"Britain won't enjoy a trade boost until exporters reduce margins and seek greater market share instead", he said.
There was a narrower than expected trade deficit for April at £10.4bn from £13.4bn the previous month while construction output fell 1.6% for the month after a 0.7% decline the previous month.
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