Index of Production, UK: May 2024

• Monthly production output was estimated to have risen by 0.2% in May 2024; this follows an unrevised fall of 0.9% in April 2024.

• The monthly increase in output for May 2024 resulted primarily from a rise of 0.4% in manufacturing, which was supported by smaller contributing increases in water supply and sewerage (0.4%) and mining and quarrying (0.1%); these rises were partially offset by a fall in electricity and gas (1.9%).

• The monthly rise in manufacturing output in May 2024 saw increases in 7 of its 13 sub-sectors.

• The largest positive contribution to manufacturing growth in May 2024 came from manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco, which rose by 1.7%, mainly because of strong growth in alcohol production.

• The largest negative contribution to manufacturing growth in May 2024 came from manufacture of transport equipment, which fell by 0.7%, solely from a fall of 1.8% from motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers.

• Looking at the longer term profile, production output for the three months to May 2024 was flat at 0.0%, compared with the three months to February 2024; weakness from manufacturing, which fell by 0.3%, was offset by rises in water supply and sewerage (1.5%), electricity and gas (1.0%), and mining and quarrying (0.6%).

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 May 2024 

For May 2024, MBS response rates were 75.4%, based on forms returned. This accounted for 86.5% 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 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 UK Index of Production QMI. This was 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 Revision Policy, this bulletin provides data for May 2024 for the first time, with April 2024 data also open for revision.

We have also included revisions to the monthly data from January to March 2024, as a result of revisions incorporated in the GDP quarterly National Accounts, UK: January to March 2024 release published on 28 June 2024.

Early estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) are subject to revision (positive and negative). Please see our Why GDP figures are revised article for more information.

Underlying data sources that form the IoP are open to revision each period. For example, our Monthly Business Survey turnover in production industries dataset publishes revisions to the previously published 12 months of data.