Index of Production, UK: August 2024

• Monthly production output was estimated to have increased by 0.5% in August 2024; this follows a decrease of 0.7% (revised up 0.1 percentage points) in July 2024.

• The monthly output increase in August 2024 resulted primarily from an increase of 1.1% in “manufacturing”, supported by smaller contributing increases in “water supply and sewerage” (1.5%) and “electricity and gas” (1.2%); these rises were partially offset by a fall in “mining and quarrying” (down 4.0%).

• The monthly increase in manufacturing output in August 2024 saw increases in 9 of its 13 subsectors, with six subsectors increasing by more than 1%.

• The largest positive contributions to manufacturing output in August 2024 came from the “manufacture of transport equipment” and “manufacture of basic metals and metal products”; these increased by 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively.

• The monthly fall in August 2024 in “mining and quarrying” came from the “extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas”, which saw a 4.2% fall; this is the biggest decrease in this industry since January 2023 (down 8.0%).

• Production output for the three months to August 2024 was estimated to have remained flat (0.0%) compared with the three months to May 2024; strength in “manufacturing” (0.5%) and “water supply and sewerage” (0.3%) was offset by weakness in “mining and quarrying” (down 1.7%) and “electricity and gas” (down 1.9%).

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 effect 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.

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 August 2024

For August 2024, MBS response rates were 73.7%, based on forms returned. This accounted for 82.9% of total turnover coverage of the sample population. For further information, see our current and historical 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 Section 2 of 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 Index of Production, UK QMI. This was last 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 Index of Production

In line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy, this release gives data for August 2024 for the first time with revisions open for all other periods. This release contains data consistent with the UK National Accounts, The Blue Book 2024, which is to be released on 31 October 2024.

These revisions are consistent with our Quarterly national accounts release that was published on 30 September 2024, and incorporates improved source data, updated seasonal adjustment parameters, and additional updated data as would happen in all quarterly national accounts releases. This includes new Value Added Tax (VAT) turnover data for Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2023 and Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024.

Blue Book 2024 publication update

This estimates 2022 for the first time using the supply and use tables (SUTs) framework, as well as improving the estimates of 2020 and 2021 based on more recent data. Additionally, we have updated the base year to 2022 after holding this fixed since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For more information on these revisions please see our Blue Book 2024: advanced aggregate estimates article.