Index of Production, UK: April 2023

• Monthly production output is estimated to have fallen by 0.3% in April 2023; this follows an increase of 0.7% in March 2023. 

• The monthly decrease in output in April 2023 resulted from a decline in three of the four production sectors, with manufacturing the main contributor to the monthly fall (0.3%), with smaller contributions from mining and quarrying (1.9%), and water supply and sewerage (0.1%); this was partially offset by electricity and gas, which rose by (0.6%). 

• Monthly manufacturing output decreased by 0.3% and saw 8 of its 13 sub-sectors negatively contributing to growth during April 2023; most notably, manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products fell by 5.0% and manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products by 3.8%, which contributed 0.31 and 0.19 negative percentage points respectively to the Index of Production (IoP) April 2023 monthly growth; however both sub-sectors contributed to the IoP growth in March 2023, increasing 4.0% and 3.3% respectively

• Monthly production output was 0.1% above February 2020, the last month of "normal" trading conditions before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; of the main production sectors, water supply and sewerage, electricity and gas, and manufacturing were above their February 2020 levels, by 10.7%, 1.8% and 0.8%, respectively; in contrast, mining and quarrying was 21.5% below its February 2020 level. 

• Looking at the longer-term profile, production output for the three months to April 2023 rose 0.2% compared with the three months to January 2023; growth came primarily from manufacturing (0.7%), partially offset by a fall in mining and quarrying (3.4%). 

• Further analysis of the effect on our monthly IoP estimate is available in our Gross domestic product (GDP) monthly estimate, UK: April 2023 bulletin, published 14 June 2023.

The Index of Production (IoP) uses data from a variety of sources. It is calculated by taking turnover and removing the impact of price changes, or by using direct volume estimates. 

Most of these data are collected as "turnover values" through the Monthly Business Survey (MBS). In addition, direct volume series are collected by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), and the International Steel Statistics Bureau (ISSB) for steel industries. 

The Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Monthly Business Survey (MBS) is fully online. Business owners can log on from any location and submit their data at an appropriate time. Most other data in the IoP come from the DESNZ, and therefore will be less affected than the survey data. 

From January 2018, Value Added Tax (VAT) data have also been included across 64 production industries for small and medium-sized businesses. For more information, see our VAT turnover data in National Accounts: background and methodology article. 

A comprehensive list of the IoP source data can be found in our Gross domestic product (GDP) data sources catalogue (XLS, 1.9MB). 

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our UK Index of Production Quality and Methodology Information (QMI). 

Revisions to IoP 

In line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy, there are no open periods for revision in this release (published on 14 June 2023). 

Economic statistics governance after Brexit 

Following the UK's exit from the EU, new governance arrangements are being put in place. These will support the adoption and implementation of high-quality standards for UK economic statistics. These governance arrangements will promote international comparability and add to the credibility and independence of the UK's statistical system. 

At the centre of this new governance framework, there will be the new National Statistician's Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE). NSCASE will support the UK by ensuring its processes for influencing and adopting international statistical standards are world leading. The advice that NSCASE provides to the National Statistician will span the full range of domains in economic statistics, including: 

• the national accounts 

• fiscal statistics 

• prices 

• trade and the balance of payments 

• labour market statistics 

You can access further information on the NSCASE on the UK Statistics Authority's website.