Index of Production, UK: April 2017

• In the 3 months to April 2017 compared with the 3 months to January 2017, the Index of Production was estimated to have decreased by 1.2%, due mainly to falls of 5.8% in energy supply and 0.7% in manufacturing.

• The highly volatile pharmaceuticals sector fell by a record 11.9% and provided the largest downward pressure on manufacturing, following an increase of 10.1% in the 3 months to January 2017.

• In the 3 months to April 2017 compared with the same 3 months a year ago, the Index of Production increased by 1.0%, this was due mainly to a rise of 1.7% in manufacturing, which was largely due to transport equipment along with broad-based upwards contributions from most manufacturing industries.

• In April 2017, total production was estimated to have increased by 0.2% compared with March 2017, due to rises of 2.9% in energy supply and 0.2% in manufacturing. Transport equipment provided the largest contribution to the manufacturing increase followed by pharmaceuticals.

• Total production output for April 2017 compared with April 2016 decreased by 0.8%, with energy supply providing the largest downward contribution, decreasing by 7.4%.

The Index of Production (IoP) is an important economic indicator and one of the short-term measures of economic activity in the UK. It is used in the compilation of gross domestic product (GDP); the production industries’ weight accounts for 14.6% of the output approach to the measurement of GDP.

The IoP measures the UK output in the mining and quarrying; manufacturing; energy supply; and water supply and waste management industries. The IoP estimates are mainly based on the Monthly Business Survey (MBS) of approximately 6,000 businesses. For the mining and quarrying and energy supply sectors, and two manufacturing industries namely coke and refined petroleum, and basic iron and steel, we receive volume data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the International Steel Statistics Bureau (ISSB) respectively. Unless otherwise stated, all estimates included in this release are based on seasonally adjusted data. The current price non-seasonally adjusted estimates of industries collected by the MBS can be found in today’s (9 June 2017) publication of TOPSI: Production and services turnover.

As part of the Short-term Economic Indicators theme day, IoP produces the proportion of turnover from exports, by industry. Level of exports (£ millions) is published in TOPSI. However, this is not always comparable with UK trade statistics, for a number of reasons. These include, but are not limited to:

• different data sources – IoP and TOPSI are based on a survey of businesses; UK Trade in Goods uses administrative data collected by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• different concepts being measured – IoP reports the value of exports as a proportion of the industry's turnover; UK trade in goods reports the change in ownership between the UK and other countries
• time lag – there can be time lags between the sale of a product reported in IoP and the movements of that product reported by UK trade

Further information on UK trade and how their data are compiled can be found in the “Things you need to know” section of the UK trade release.

This release has a revisions period back to January 2017. Revisions can be made for a variety of reasons, the most common include:

• late responses to surveys and administrative sources, or changes to original returns
• forecasts being replaced by actual data
• revisions to seasonal adjustment factors, which are re-estimated every month and reviewed annually

This revisions period is consistent with the National Accounts revisions policy.

Care should be taken when using the month-on-month growth rates as data can often be volatile; longer-term growth rates and examination of the time series allow for better interpretation of the statistics.

Summary information can be found in the Quality and Methodology Information report.

Figures 1 and 2 show that both the Index of Production (IoP) and Index of Manufacturing (IoM) followed a broadly upward trend following the economic downturn. Growth was more pronounced from the beginning of 2010, as the economy recovered, before a slight downturn during 2012. Since then, both production and manufacturing output have risen steadily but remain well below their level reached in the pre-downturn gross domestic product (GDP) peak in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2008, by 7.9% and 4.1% respectively in the 3 months to April 2017.

Table 1 shows the growth rates and contributions for the IoP and main sectors for April 2017. The monthly estimate of total production rose by 0.2%. There were rises in two of the four main sectors. The largest contribution came from energy supply, which increased by 2.9%.

The 3 months-on-previous 3 months estimate of total production fell by 1.2% in April 2017, with falls in three of the four main sectors; energy supply provided the largest downward contribution. This was the largest fall since the 3 months to February 2016, when it also fell by 1.2%.

Due to the spikes in manufacturing output in December 2016 and January 2017, we must also draw attention to the 3 months-on-same 3 months a year ago growth rates as this more accurately reflects the longer-term trend to allow better interpretation of the statistics, see Output of the Production Industries (IOP5) publication tables.

In the 3 months‐on‐previous 3 months to April 2017, total production was estimated to have decreased by 1.2% (Table 2), following an increase of 0.1% in the 3 months to March 2017. This is the weakest since the 3 months to February 2016, when IoP also decreased by 1.2%.

There were falls in three of the four main sectors, with the energy supply sector providing the largest downward pressure, falling by 5.8%, the largest fall since April 2014. BEIS advised that the decrease was largely caused by warmer-than-average temperatures during the months of February, March and April, at 1.6 degrees Celsius, 1.8 degrees Celsius and 0.6 degrees Celsius respectively, above the long-term average (according to the Met Office).

The decrease in manufacturing of 0.7% is due mainly to the highly volatile pharmaceutical industry, which fell by a record 11.9%; following an increase of 10.1% in the 3 months to January 2017.

The monthly estimate of total production increased by 0.2% in April 2017 (Table 3), following a decrease of 0.5% in the previous month.

There were rises in two of the four main sectors. Energy supply provided the largest upward pressure, increasing by 2.9%; within this sector the largest contribution came from the supply of gas, which increased by 7.0%. Over the longer-term, demand in gas has increased as a result of increased gas use instead of coal for the purpose of generating electricity (BEIS Energy Trends, UK energy statistics).

The monthly rise of 0.2% in manufacturing was broad-based across 8 of the 13 sub-sectors. The largest upward contribution came from the transport equipment sub-sector at 1.6%; within this, motor vehicles, trailers and semi trailers rose by 1.8%.

Total production decreased by 0.8% in April 2017 compared with April 2016; two of the four main sectors provided downwards contributions with manufacturing flat (Table 4).

The largest contribution came from energy supply, which decreased by 7.4%, following a decrease of 5.7% in the previous period. Within this sector, electricity supply provided the largest downward pressure, falling by 6.7%.

Within manufacturing, there were increases in 10 of the 13 sub-sectors, but this was offset by the weakness within the volatile pharmaceutical industry, which provided the largest downward contribution, decreasing by 12.2%, the weakest month-on-same month a year ago growth since February 2013. Decreased turnover and exports were reported in the Monthly Business Survey, published in Turnover in Production and Services Industries.

The corresponding price indices used to deflate the Index of Production (IoP) are published in the monthly publication of UK producer price inflation. Product sales by manufacturers are published on an annual basis in UK manufacturers’ sales by product (PRODCOM) statistical bulletins; estimates are in current prices, unlike the chained volume measures published in the IoP release.

The data published by BEIS in Energy Trends are used to measure the mining and quarrying, electricity and gas, and the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products sectors within this release.

The IoP follows the Eurostat short-term statistics (STS) regulation for measuring output in production. The latest release of industrial production and output in manufacturing are available from Eurostat and are updated monthly. It should be noted that an accurate comparison cannot be made between our publication and the Eurostat publication without re-indexing the data to the same base year, as Eurostat data are calculated on a 2010 equals 100 basis, while UK data are calculated on a 2013 equals 100 basis.

Outside the EU, the US Census Bureau releases Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales reports. Accurate comparisons cannot be made between our publication and the US Census Bureau release, as the UK data are calculated at chained volume indices, which take into account price changes, while the US publication is not adjusted for price changes.

In July 2017, we aim to publish further analysis of how the manufacturing sector has reacted to the devaluation of sterling evident since June 2016.

The Short-term indicators economic commentary was published alongside this release, presenting new information on economic conditions in April 2017, with data available for output in production, construction and the trade balance.

VAT turnover implementation into National Accounts: June Update was published on 1 June 2017. This update explains that the first use of VAT in the national accounts will be in the Quarterly National Accounts (July to Sept) 2017 and the Index of Services: Oct 2017 bulletins, which are both due for publication on 22 December 2017.

The majority of data used to compile the manufacturing sector, and thus the Index of Production (IoP), is collected via the Monthly Business Survey (MBS). The MBS samples around 6,000 businesses every month. The data collected are turnover excluding Value Added Tax (VAT) and exports for some applicable industries. This data is then deflated using Producer Price Indices (PPI). Within the manufacturing sector we also receive direct volume data from BEIS for fuel industries and the International Steel Statistics Bureau for steel industries.

The mining and quarrying sector is mainly comprised of data from BEIS, including volume of oil and gas extraction and coal extraction. The data used to produce the energy sector is also from BEIS and includes energy and gas supply output. A comprehensive list of the IoP source data can be found in the GDP(O) source catalogue.

Within the suite of datasets published monthly alongside this release, you will find:

• Output of the Production Industries (IOP5) publication tables
• Revisions to Output of the Production Industries (IOP5R)
• Monthly Business Survey response rates for production industries for this publication
• Revision triangle – monitors the size of monthly and 3-monthly revisions
• Export proportions for manufacturing industries
• Index of Production weights 2013 equals 100
• Index of Production and Sectors to 4 decimal places

The TOPSI: Production and services turnover is published alongside this release, providing current price estimates for industries collected by the MBS.

The Index of Production Quality and Methodology Information document contains important information on:

• the strengths and limitations of the data and how it compares with related data
• uses and users of the data
• how the output was created
• the quality of the output including the accuracy of the data