Annual Business Survey 2009

Provisional results for the annual business inquiry now called the annual business survey show decreases in all four main industry groups: production, construction, distribution and services in turnover, purchases and gross value added (GVA) at basic prices. Agriculture also reported decreases in turnover, purchases and GVA at basic prices.

Production decreased 8.1% in turnover, 8.9% in purchases and 10.2% in GVA. Within the production group mining and quarrying fell by 24.6% in turnover and 37.5% in GVA. Production did report some increases most notably in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning with 8.4% in turnover and 32.1% in GVA. Manufacturing reported decreases of 9.1% in turnover, 10.9% in purchases and 11.2% in GVA. The construction industries reported the largest percentage falls with -13.7% in turnover, -15.1% in purchases and -20.3% in GVA.

Distribution reported the largest decreases in money terms with a decrease of £60bn in turnover (-4.9%), £58bn (-5.5%) in purchases and £17bn (-4.6%) in GVA. While the financial differences were the largest the percentage changes were not. Only services had a smaller percentage change. The only increases in the distribution industries was in retail (except motor vehicles and motorcycles) increasing turnover by 0.3% and GVA by 1.8%.

Consumer Inflation At 3.2%

Annual inflation increased from 3.1% in September to 3.2% last month according to figures released by ONS. The main upward pressure for the change came from petrol and diesel, financial services and games, toys and hobbies (mainly computer games bought in shops rather than online) and the main downward pressure came from food prices. Vegetable prices fell 1% and meat prices were unchanged but went up last year. The index stands at 115.2.

There was an increase of 0.3% over the month. The most significant contributions came from recreation and culture (games, toys and hobbies 1.9% and cultural services 1.7%) and transport (fuels and lubricants 1.8%). Downward pressure over the month came from furniture, household equipment and maintenance (furniture and furnishings -3.4%) and clothing and footwear (-0.7% largely from garments).

Pricen Rises For Producers In October

Output prices for home sales of manufactured goods rose 4% in the year to October and 0.6% over the month. Input prices for materials and fuels for manufacturing rose by 8% in the year to October and 2.1% over the month.

On the output side, petroleum products increased by 10.6% and chemicals and pharmaceuticals by 6% over the year while clothing, textiles and leather increased by only 1.4%. Within the inputs imported metals increased by 20.5% and crude oil increased by 16.2%. Fuel fell by 4.8% over the year to October.

Farm Business Income 2009/10

Average farm business income (net profit) per farm of all types annual percentage change was down 15% at current prices at £43,400 and in real terms at 2009/10 prices they were also down 15%. Cereals were down 34% at £46,000 and general cropping down 31% on 2008/9 and 2007/8 at £66,000. Dairying fell by 19% to £56,100. Net farm income (return to farmer) for all types was down by 24% at current prices and in real terms at 2009/10 prices at £31,500. Cereals saw a 47% fall to £27,900 and general cropping a 40% fall to £48,900. Dairying fell 32% at current prices and 31% in real terms to £40,500. Cash income (revenue less expenses) however increased by 4% across all types of farming to £63,400. Cereals increased cash income by 4% to £78,700, general cropping fell 15% to £104,300, lowland grazing livestock increased by 20% to £27,900, LFA grazing livestock by 24% to £29,300 specialst pigs by 19% to £86,300 and mixed farming by 20% to £55,300 in 2009/10 over 2008/9. Dairying cash income fell 4% to £75,000 at current prices.

Regional Unemployment in EU

Regional unemployment rates vary considerably across the EU27 with 28 of the 271 NUTS 2 regions with an unemployment rate of under 4.4% and 13 regions over 17.8%, 9 in Spain and 4 in French overseas departments.

OECD Unemployment Remains At 8.5%

The OECD unemployment rate stayed at 8.5% in September 2010 unchanged from August and it has been broadly the same since July. Recent figures from the US and Canada confirm this stability. The OECD level remains at a level close to post-war high levels though wide divergences exist at national levels. There were 0.6m fewer people unemployed than in September last year but 15.4m more than September 2007.

Production Up By 3.8%, Manufacturing 4.8%

Production increased by 3.8% in September 2010 compared with September last year, 3.3% on the same quarter last year, 0.4% compared with last month and 0.6% compared with the last quarter.

Manufacturing increased by 4.8% compared with September 2009. The largest increases were in machinery and equipment with 21% and basic metals and metal products with 12.6%. There was a 52.5% rise in the manufacture of machinery for the production of mechanical power and 22.7% for the manufacture of other kinds of special purpose machinery. The processing and treatment of metals increased by 17.4% and the manufacture of basic metals by 13.7%.