Index of Production, UK: July 2021

• Monthly production rose by 1.2% between June 2021 and July 2021 meaning output was 2.1% below its February 2020 level, the last month of "normal" trading conditions prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; the coronavirus pandemic has generally had a negative impact on production output, although each sector has been affected differently.

• The rise in production between June 2021 and July 2021 came from an increase of 21.9% in mining and quarrying; extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas increased because of some pipelines re-opening after a period of closure for maintenance.

• Manufacturing remained flat over the month at 0.0% growth, with 4 of the 13 manufacturing subsectors seeing rises; a rise of 5.9% in manufacture of transport equipment was offset by a fall of 4.3% in manufacture of machinery and equipment.

• Production output for the three months to July 2021 increased by 0.4% compared with the three months to April 2021.

• Manufacturing output remains 2.3% below its February 2020 level, and mining & quarrying is 16.6% below, but electricity and gas is now 4.4% above its February 2020 level, and water supply & sewerage is 4.8% above; 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, UK: July 2021, published 10 September 2021.

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).

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

Blue Book 2021

In Blue Book 2021 a new framework will be introduced to improve how we produce volume estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for balanced years as part of the supply use process. This framework includes the implementation of double-deflated industry-level gross value added (GVA) for the first time. This improvement will be reflected in the September quarterly national accounts and October monthly GDP estimates. On 8 September 2021, we published Impact of Blue Book 2021 changes on quarterly and monthly volume estimates of GDP by industry, and these changes will be taken on in the next GDP monthly release, on 13 October 2021.

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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

Our latest data and analysis on the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on the UK economy and population is now available on a new 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. Specific queries must be directed to the Media Relations Office.