AS many as 36,000 manufacturing jobs will be lost during the next three months despite general optimism among producers, according to a new survey.

The Regional Trends Survey, published by the CBI and Experian Business Strategies, highlighted a worrying number of likely redundancies in a sector plagued by problems in recent times.

More positive notes were sounded in favour of companies trading with the US, but the picture was gloomier for continental trade.

Doug Godden, CBI head of economic analysis, said: "Three months ago, manufacturers were gloomy in almost every region. There has been an encouraging turnaround in some of the regions though severe difficulties remain, and there are some sharp contrasts in outlook.

"The US recovery is taking off. Companies mainly trading there are in a stronger position than those relying on Continental markets."

The survey found manufacturers' optimism rose in almost half the UK's regions, suggesting the depressed conditions that have plagued the sector during recent years are easing.

The survey showed that, on the whole, optimism was still generally low but rose in five of the UK's 11 regions. In the previous survey, it fell in all but two and was barely positive in those.

Every region, apart from Wales and Northern Ireland, saw orders fall during the past quarter, but the majority of regions expect total orders to rise during the next three months.

Orders are expected to fall in the West Midlands, Scotland, South East and London and East of England.

Despite recovery appearing to be under way in many regions, manufacturers are still under severe pressure. During the past three months, manufacturing jobs continued to be lost in all but one region.

Nationally, the survey indicates 31,000 manufacturing jobs were shed during the third quarter of this year.

The fastest rate of job cutting was in the South East and London.