Index of Production, UK: March 2023

• Monthly production output is estimated to have risen by 0.7% in March 2023, the strongest monthly growth to the Index of Production (IoP) since May 2021 (1.4%); this follows falls of 0.1% and 0.3% in February 2023 and January 2023, respectively; both of these months see small upward revisions of 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points, respectively.
• Looking at the longer-term profile, quarterly production output for Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2023 rose by 0.1% compared with Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2022, and is the first positive quarterly growth in IoP since Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2021; growth came primarily from manufacturing (0.5%), partially offset by a fall in mining and quarrying (5.0%).
• The monthly increase in output in March 2023 resulted from rises in three of the four production sectors, with manufacturing the main contributor to the monthly rise (0.7%) with smaller contributions from water supply and sewerage (1.7%) and, electricity and gas (1.1%); this was partially offset by mining and quarrying, which fell by 1.4%.
• Monthly manufacturing output increased by 0.7% and saw 7 of its 13 sub-sectors positively contributing to growth during March 2023; most notably, following falls in previous months, the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products (4.0%), and the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (3.3%), contributed 0.24 and 0.17 percentage points respectively to the IoP March 2023 monthly growth.
• Monthly production output was 0.4% above February 2020, the last month of “normal” trading conditions before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; of the main production sectors, water supply and sewerage, electricity and gas, and manufacturing were above their February 2020 levels, by 10.8%, 1.2% and 1.1%, respectively; in contrast, mining and quarrying was 20.0% below its February 2020 level.
• Further analysis of the effect on our monthly IoP estimate is available in our Gross domestic product (GDP) monthly estimate, UK: March 2023 bulletin, published 12 May 2023.

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 Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Monthly Business Survey (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, and therefore 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. For more information, see 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 (XLS, 1.9MB).

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

Revisions to IoP

In line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy, this release (published on 12 May 2023), is open to revision for periods January and February 2023.

Economic statistics governance after Brexit

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, new governance arrangements are being put in place. These will support the adoption and implementation of high-quality standards for UK economic statistics. These governance arrangements will promote international comparability and add to the credibility and independence of the UK’s statistical system.

At the centre of this new governance framework, there will be the new National Statistician’s Committee for Advice on Standards for Economic Statistics (NSCASE). NSCASE will support the UK by ensuring its processes for influencing and adopting international statistical standards are world leading. The advice that NSCASE provides to the National Statistician will span the full range of domains in economic statistics, including:

• the national accounts
• fiscal statistics
• prices
• trade and the balance of payments
• labour market statistics

You can access further information on the NSCASE on the UK Statistics Authority’s website.