Dashboard

This panel shows how much physical manufacturing output the UK produces over time, using the national accounts Index of Production for the manufacturing sector (SIC section C).

The numbers are a chained-volume index: the base year is set to 100, and other quarters show output relative to that baseline. A higher value means more output than the base period, before allowing for price changes.

This is not the cash value of production, not employment, and not exports. The chart can show the published index level or quarter-on-quarter percentage change derived from that same index.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes the Index of Production using the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2007). Each line is a manufacturing activity — what firms produce — not who buys it (consumer vs business) or why (for example defence).

That is why you will not see labels like “consumer goods” or “defence” as separate series: those ideas cut across several industries or are not how national accounts classify output.

The eleven groupings here are the main manufacturing sub-aggregates we pull from the DIOP dataset (chained volume, seasonally adjusted). Each index is rebased like the headline manufacturing index; lines are not weighted shares of the sector and should not be added together to imply a total.

Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) measures spending on fixed assets such as machinery, equipment, and buildings used in production. Here it is limited to private-sector manufacturing.

Figures are in chained-volume terms (£ million), so trends reflect real investment rather than nominal pounds, and are seasonally adjusted where the source series is SA.

The data come from ONS business investment by industry and asset (CXNV). The chart can show the level in £ million or quarter-on-quarter percentage change from the same series.

Labour productivity here means output per hour worked in manufacturing (SIC section C). It links how much is produced with how many hours were used to produce it.

ONS publishes an index with 2023 = 100 for the level, and a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter percentage change series. Both come from the labour productivity time series (PRDY).

Higher productivity can reflect better technology, skills, or capital, or changes in the mix of products. It does not by itself say whether workers are better off—that also depends on pay, hours, and prices.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for manufacturing output measures changes in the prices UK producers receive for goods they sell at the factory gate (before retail margins and taxes consumers see).

It is not the Consumer Prices Index (CPI): PPI tracks producer selling prices; CPI tracks prices households pay for a basket of goods and services.

Movements reflect nominal price pressures in manufacturing. A rising index means, on average, manufacturers’ output prices are higher than in the base period.

Workforce jobs are an estimate of filled jobs in the economy. The manufacturing series counts jobs in SIC section C, on a seasonally adjusted basis where published.

Jobs are a headcount-style concept (one person with two jobs can count twice). They can move differently from hours worked, output, or productivity.

Use this panel alongside output and productivity: for example, output can rise while jobs fall if productivity improves.

This line is the balance-of-payments (BOP) measure of UK exports of goods to the world, in chained-volume terms (£ million), seasonally adjusted.

It is compiled within the national accounts framework. Administrative trade statistics (for example HMRC declarations) can differ in coverage and timing.

The chart shows the total for goods exports, not services. Compare with the SITC breakdown panel for broad commodity groups within goods.

These lines split goods exports into broad Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) style groups using ONS merchandise trade (MRET) series tied to the balance of payments.

Each series is chained-volume exports (£ million), seasonally adjusted, on the same broad BOP goods basis as the headline total—not company-level trade data.

The groups are high level (for example food, fuels, machinery). They help show which parts of goods trade are moving, but they are not exhaustive fine product detail.

Gross value added (GVA) is the value generated in production. This section shows manufacturing (SIC 2007 section C) for all twelve UK ITL1 regions, using ONS balanced regional GVA by industry (Table 1c, current prices, £ million).

The slider changes the calendar year: the map and cards update together. Manufacturing share is manufacturing GVA divided by the same region’s all-industries total from the same table.

Figures are workplace-based (allocated to where work happens). Employment and enterprise counts by region are not loaded here; ONS publishes those separately (e.g. APS, UK Business Counts), often for a different reference year than the latest GVA.