Index of Production, UK: April 2024

• Monthly production output was estimated to have fallen by 0.9% in April 2024; this follows a rise of 0.2% in March 2024 and 1.0% in February 2024.

• The monthly decrease in output for April 2024 resulted from a fall of 1.4% in "manufacturing"; this was partially offset by rises in “water supply and sewerage” (1.3%), “mining and quarrying" (0.8%) and "electricity and gas" (0.5%).

• The monthly fall in manufacturing output in April 2024 saw decreases in 9 of its 13 subsectors.

• The largest negative contribution to manufacturing growth in April 2024 came from "manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations", which fell by 6.1%; the largest positive contribution came from “machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified” (1.2%).

• Looking at the longer-term profile, production output for the three months to April 2024 rose by 0.7% compared with the three months to January 2024; growth came primarily from “manufacturing” (1.0%), supported by a small rise in “electricity and gas” (0.2%).

All data related to the Index of Production (IoP) are available on our Related data page.

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 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, so 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. More information is available in 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.

Response rates for April 2024

For April 2024, the response rates were 75.9%, based on forms returned. This accounted for 87.5% of total turnover coverage of the sample population. For further information, see our current and historical Monthly Business Survey (MBS) (production) response rates dataset.

Quality and methodology    

The data reported in IoP bulletins and datasets are estimates that are subject to uncertainty, such as sampling variability and non-sampling error. More information is available on our Uncertainty and how we measure it for our surveys web page.

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our UK Index of Production QMI. This was recently updated on 7 June 2024.

Accredited Official Statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in April 2014. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled “accredited official statistics”.

Revisions to IoP

In line with the National Accounts Revision Policy, this release provides data for April 2024 for the first time, with no previous periods open for revision.

Early estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) are subject to revision (positive and negative). Please see our Why GDP figures are revised article for more information.

Underlying data sources that form the IoP are open to revision each period. For example, our Monthly Business Survey dataset publishes revisions to the previously published 12 months of data.