Index of Production, UK: June 2021

• Monthly production fell by 0.7% between May 2021 and June 2021 meaning output was 3.2% below its February 2020 level, the last month of "normal" trading conditions prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

• The fall in production was led by decreases of 11.9% in mining and quarrying and 1.9% in electricity and gas; these were offset partially by a 0.2% rise in manufacturing and a 1.1% rise in water supply and sewerage.

• The 0.2% rise in manufacturing over the month was driven by an increase in output in 8 of the 13 manufacturing subsectors and was led by a rise of 7.4% in the manufacture of transport equipment; this was offset partially by a fall of 12.4% in the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products subsector.

• Production output for Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2021 increased by 0.5% compared with Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2021.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has had a generally negative impact on production output, although each sector has been affected differently.

• Manufacturing output remains 2.3% below its February 2020 level, and mining and quarrying is 31.6% below; electricity and gas is now 5.3% above its February 2020 level, and water supply and sewerage is 4.6% above.

Data sources and collection

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

The majority 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 Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the International Steel Statistics Bureau (ISSB) for steel industries.

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 VAT turnover data in national accounts: background and methodology.

A comprehensive list of the IoP source data can be found in the Gross domestic product (GDP(O)) source catalogue (XLS, 715KB).

Quality and methodology

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

Blue Book 2021

In Blue Book 2021 a new framework will be introduced to improve how we produce volume estimates of GDP for balanced years as part of the supply use process. This framework includes the implementation of double-deflated industry-level gross value added for the first time. This improvement will be reflected in the September quarterly national accounts and October monthly GDP estimates. On 28 June we published Blue Book 2021 indicative impacts of this change to industry level gross value added volume.

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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

Our latest data and analysis on the impact  of coronavirus (COVID-19) on the UK economy and population is now available on a new coronavirus (COVID-19) web page. This will be the hub for all special coronavirus-related publications, including the fortnightly Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey (BICS).

The ONS has released a public statement on COVID-19 and the production of statistics. If you have specific queries, please email media.relations@ons.gov.uk.

For further and detailed analysis of the effect on our monthly Index of Production estimate, please see our article Coronavirus and the impact on output in the UK economy, published on 12 August 2021.