Steel Helps UK Production Increase 2.5%

Output rose by 2.5% over the year to November 2013 according to the ONS reflecting rises in manufacturing output and output in mining and quarrying and the water, sewerage and waste management sectors. The main contributors to the increase in manufacturing output were the manufacture of transport equipment, other manufacturing and repair and the manufacture of basic metals and metal products. Iron and steel made he largest contribution to the increase with growth of 34.3%, its highest since records began in January 1998.

Manufacturing Increases 5.8%

Production increased by 3.3% in October according to the index of production from the ONS. Manufacturing increased by 5.8%. The main contributors to the increase in the manufacturing index were an increase of 1.4% in machinery and equipment and 1.3% from basic metals and metal products. Capital goods increased by 8.4% and intermediate goods and energy by 1.2%. Mining and quarrying fell by 7.2%, oil and gas extraction alone by 8%. Electricity, gas and water supply increased by 0.7%. Consumer durables fell by 5.2% while non-durables increased by 4.3%.

Production Continues To Grow

The index of production for September was 3.8% higher than September 2009. The index for October 2010 rose by 3.3% compared with 2009. The index of manufacturing was 4.8% higher in September and 5.8% higher in October. Output increased in 10 of the 13 sub-sectors in both September and October and fell in 2 in September and 3 in October with the largest increases in machinery and equipment and basic metals and metal products in both months with increases of 21% and 12.6% respectively in September and 16.8% and 13.7% respectively in October.

In the euro area industrial production increased by 5.2% in September 2010 compared with September 2009 and 5.8% in the EU27. Capital goods grew by 7.5% in euro area and 8.7% in EU27, intermediates by 6.8% and 7.5% respectively, energy by 1.8% and 0.8%, non-durables by 1.6% and 2.5% respectively and durables by 0.2% in euro area and 2.2% in EU27.

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%.

Manufacturing Helps Production Index

The ONS index of production for July 2010 increased by 1.9% on last year. The index of manufacturing increased by 4.9%. Analysis of the figures for the most recent month on last year shows that 9 of the 13 manufacturing sub-sectors increased by 4 fell. Machinery and equipment and basic metals and metal products reported the largest increases.

Manufacturing Index Up In March

The ONS' Index of Production statistical release tells us that seasonally adjusted index rose by 2% in March 2010 to 89.4 compared with March 2009 and the manufacturing index rose by 3.3% to 92.0.

The manufacturing index component sub-sectors output increased in 9 of the 13 sub-sectors and decreased in 4 sub-sectors. The largest increases were in transport equipment with a rise of 16.9% and basic metals and metal products with 4.6%. The manufacture of motor vehicles had the largest rise within the transport equipment industries with 52.3%. Within basic metals and metal products the largest rise was in the manufacture of cutlery, tools and general hardware with 20.4%.

In the other broad industry groups, mining and quarrying fell by 3.1% and the electricity, gas and water supply industries fell 1.8% compared with March 2009.

In the main industrial groupings consumer durables rose 2% from 0.2% in the previous month on month. Capital goods rose 8.7% from 5.7% in March 2009 and intermediate goods rose 1.2% after a fall of 2% the previous month.

Factory Gate Prices Increase Again

Output prices for home sales of manufactured goods went up 5.7% over the year to April 2010 compared to 5% to March. Excluding excise duties changes the increase was 5.3% over the year and 1.3% over the month. The monthly index rose 1.4% between March and April.

Input prices went up 13.1% in the year and 0.6% over the month. The increase mainly reflects the increases in the price of crude oil and imported metals. Imported materials increased in price by 0.8% between March and April.

Inflation At The Factory Gate Up 4.1%

The output price index for home sales of manufactured products rose by 4.1% over the year to February as compared to January when it rose by 3.8% and 0.3% between January and February to 116.8. The incrrase was mainly due to price rises in chemical products, tobacco and alcohol products and other manufcatured goods. If excise duties are excluded the increases were 3.7% over the year and 0.3% over the month. If the more volatile sectors such as food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum are excluded the increase was 2.9% over the year and 0.3% over the month.

The input price index for materials and fuels bought by the manufacturing industry increased by 6.9% over the year to February and 0.1% over the month to February. The increases are mainly the result of price rises in imported parts and equipment, chemicals and other imported materials. These were offset by falls in the price of fuel and crude oil. Import prices as a whole increased by 0.3% between January and February. If food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum prices are excluded the increases were 1.9% over the year and 0.5% over the month.

Looking at output prices in more detail the price of petroleum products increased by 20% over the year, the next largest increase was electrical and optical which rose by 5.1%. The changes over the month were minor in comparison. Chemical products increased by 0.6%, the biggest increase followed by tobacco and alcohol at 0.5%. Petroleum products fell by -0.2% over the month. Office machinery and equipment increased by 13.4% over the year and 1.6% over the month. Recovered secondary raw materials rose by 24.7% over the year and 0.4% over the month. The prices for fabricated metal products fell by 0.5% over the year and 0.1% over the month.

The biggest contributions to the increase in input prices over the year were crude oil with an increase of 54.5% and imported metals at 8.6%. Over the month from January to February the main contributors were imported chemicals and imported metals at 0.9%, the highest since the 9.4% of September 2008, and home food materials at 0.7% offset by falls in the prices of fuel at -2.6% and crude oil at -0.7%. Office machinery and computer parts increased by 23.9% over the year and 2.8% over the month, imported non-ferrous metals increased by 21.7% over the year but fell -0.4% over the month. There were big falls in the prices of electricity and gas at -10.1% and -33.1% respectively and -18.5% overall.

Fall In Production In November

Production was 6% lower year-on-year in November 2009. Mining and quarrying was 6.5% down on last year and oil and gas down 4.1%. Energy supplies fell 10.6% over the same period. These decreases were slightly offset by an increase in water supply output.

Production increased 0.4% between October and November 2009. Mining and quarrying output increased by 5.9%, oil and gas 7.2%. Energy output went up 3.5% on the month. The gas supply output helped offset decreases in electricity and water supply output.

Manufacturing output showed an annual decline of 5.4% in November. Machinery and equipment at 17.4% showed the biggest declines while basic metals and metal products decreased by 12.1%. The transport equipment industries showed the largest annual increases with output going up by 2.8% which also reported an increase of 3.5% month on month.

Falls In Manufacturing Output In October

Another survey from the ONS reports that manufacturing output has fallen in the three months to October by 0.5%. Between September and October manufacturing output did not significantly change.

There were falls in 12 of the 13 manufacturing sub-sectors including food, drink and tobacco, fuels, chemicals and metals, wood and wood products, pulp, paper, printing and publishing. There were significant rises in textiles, leather and clothing, transport equipment, electrical and optical and 'other' manufacturing. Manufacturing output is now 9.9% lower than the same quarter last year.

The index of production fell by 8.4% in October compared with October 2008. The index of manufacturing fell by 7.8% over the same period. The largest falls in manufacturing were in machinery and equipment at 17.8% and the base metals and metal products sector at 15.7%.

Production Index Down This Quarter

Production was down to 1.8% to 87.0 compared with the previous three months and down 12.3% on the year. Manufacturing output decreased by 1.2% , mining and quarrying by 2.7% and electricity, gas and water supply industries by 5.5% on the previous quarter according to the Office for National Statistics. The most significant falls in manufacturing were in basic metals and metal products, machinery and equipment and transport equipment industries. There were rises in food and drink and chemicals. Consumer durables and consumer non-durables were up, durables by 1.2% and non-durables by 1.7% on the last three months, both still down on a year ago. Over the last month durables increased output by 6.6% non-durables decreased by 0.9%. Both capital goods and intermediate goods and energy fell on the month, the quarter and the year. The production index has continued on a downward trend, with some fluctuations, since March 2008 when figures were new or started to be revised by the ONS.