Manufacturing Leads Growth In Production

Manufacturing made by far the biggest contribution to the overall production output increase of 0.5% with growth of 0.7% between Q3 and Q4 2013 according to data from the ONS.

The annual comparison shows that production output was 1.8% higher in December 2013 than in December 2012. When this is broken down into industry sectors manufacturing rose by 1.5%, mining and quarrying by 2.6% and water services by 7.9%. These rises were offset by a fall of 3% in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning.

Between November 2013 and December 2013 production rose by 0.4% and manufacturing by 0.3%. The manufacture of basic pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical preparations, coke and refined petroleum products and the manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco were mainly responsible for the rise.

The figures are seasonally adjusted.

Manufacturing Down 2.1% Production By 2.4%

The index of production published by the ONS shows that production was down by 2.4% in November 2012 compared with November 2011. Manufacturing was down by 2.1%.

The monthly analysis shows that production actually rose by 0.3% during the month October to November 2012. Large increases in production in mining and quarrying (8.7%) were offset by falls in manufacturing (0.3%) and energy supply (4.1%).

The annual analysis for November 2012 and November 2011 also shows that mining and quarrying fell by 13% within which oil and gas extraction decreased by 17.8% contributing 13.4% to the sector fall. Manufacturing fell 2.1% over the year with food manufacturing, beverages and tobacco contributing a fall of 4.6% and chemicals and chemical products 6.8%. Energy supply increased by 4.4% and water supply and waste management increased by 2.4%.

Factory Gate Prices Stable In October

The annual output price index for home sales of manufactured products rose by 2.5% the same as September 2012. The index excluding food, beverages and tobacco and petroleum was 1.4% compared with 1.2% in the previous three months. The total input price index increased 0.1% compared with a fall of 1% in September.

Producer Prices Increase Again In February

The output price for home sales of manufactured goods increased by 4.1% in the year to February 2012. The increase excluding the more volatile sectors like food and beverages was 3%. The input price index also increased in the year by 7.3%. The monthly index of sales between January and February increased by 0.6%.

Producer Prices For October

The producer price index for October was published recently by the ONS. The survey suggests that in the year to October the factory gate prices for sales of manufactured products increased by 5.7%. The index excluding food, beverages and tobacco rose by 3.4%. Over the month between September and October the index remained unchanged. The input price index rose by 14.1% on the annual comparison and fell by 0.8% on the monthly comparison.

Manufacturing Up But Fall In Overall Production

The latest Index of Production (IOP), recently published by the ONS, fell by 1.0 per cent in August 2011 compared to August 2010. The Index of Manufacturing, within the IOP, rose by 1.5 per cent in August 2011 compared to August 2010. Production between July and August rose by 0.2 per cent, with manufacturing falling by 0.3 per cent. This months release was the first to be based on the new UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).

Sector C, the manufacturing sector, contributed the largest percentage of production with 66.6%. The 1.5% increase was due to a 4.8% increase in the production of food, beverages and tobacco. Over the month food, beveages and tobacco increased by 1% with alcoholic beverages contributing a 2.9% rise. Mining and quarrying (Sector B), contributed 16.4%. Sector D, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning contributed 9.3%.

Factory Gate Prices Up 5.9%

The output price index for UK manufactured goods according to the ONS producer price index bulletin for July 2011 increased by 5.9% over the year compared with 5.7% last month. The index for July compared with June rose by 0.2% mainly due to price rises in food and clothing, textiles and leather goods.

The output price index excluding volatile products like food and beverages rose 3.3%. The index excluding excise duty rose 6%.

Input prices rose by 18.5%. Manufacturing excluding food and beverages rose 13.1% over the year to July. Between June and July the total index increased by 0.6% mainly due to price increases for crude oil and other imported materials. The total price of imported materials rose by 1.3% between June and July.

Factory Gate Prices Up 5.7%

The producer prices index from the ONS tells us that factory gate prices for home sales of manufactured goods increased 5.7% in the year June compared with 5.4% in May. The price excluding the more volatile sectors such as food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 3.2%. The output price excluding excise duty increased by 5.8%.

Over ther month between May and June the output price index rose by 0.1%. The increase mainly reflects increases in the prices of food and other manufatures.

Producer Prices Up

Output prices for home sales of manufactured products increased by 4.4% in September 2010 over 2009 compared with 4.9% in the year to August and 4.6% excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum. The monthly index between August and September rose 0.3%. Input prices for the fuel and materials bought by manufacturers increased by 9.5% over the year to September and 0.7% over the month. Import prices increased by 0.9% over the month. Manufacturing inputs excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 6.4%.

CPI Sharp Rise To 3.7%

The CPI rose from 3.4% in the year to March 2010 to 3.7% this month. It was 3% in February. The largest upward contribution came from clothing and footwear within which the largest effect was made by women's garments. Other significant contributions came from food and non-alcoholic beverages, in particular food but no one item within the food category, alcoholic beverages and tobacco (2.1%), miscellaneous goods and services (0.8%) and restaurants and hotels.

The RPI rose by 5.3% in the year to April up from 4.4% in the year to March 2010. Tne RPIX rose by 5.4% from 4.8% in March.

5% Increase In Factory Gate Prices

Output prices for home sales of manufactured products increased by 5% in year to March, from 4.2% last month and 0.9% between February and March. The increase mainly reflects the 24.8% increase in output price for petroleum products over the year. It is the highest increase since September 2008. Electrical and optical increased by 6.3% and chemicals by 4.5%. Excise duties did not contribute that much to the increase. The output price index excluding volatile priced products like food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 3.6% in the year and 0.7% in the month to March. The output price of petroleum products increased 3.9% over the month. The index for paper products is the lowest it has been since January 2006.

Input prices for materials and fuel for the manufacturing industries increased by 10.1% in the year and 3.6% in the month to March. The increases mainly reflect the 60% increase in price for crude oil and 14.4% increase in price for imported metals over the year. Imported materials as a whole increased 4.4% between February and March. If the more volatile categories are excluded the index increased 4% over the year and 1.1% in the month between February and March. The price of crude oil increased 9.7% in the month between February and March and imported metals 5.3%. It is the largest monthly rise since records began in February 1991.

The producer price index is important because because it provides a key inflation measure as important as the CPI or the RPI and works on a similar 'basket of goods' principle. The current data is from the statistical release from the Office for National Statistics for March 2010.

Inflation Down to 3%

The CPI rose by 3% in the year to February to 112.9. In January it had been 3.5%. The RPI in February was 219.2 an increase of 3.7%. The RPI excluding mortgage interest payments was 4.2% up, down from 4.6% in January.

Recreation and culture provided the main downward contribution as prices remained unchanged over the survey period of January and February. Within this group the games, toys and hobbies sector was the main factor and in particular computer games and pre-school activity toys. Books, particularly non-fiction, also made a significant contribution. Clothing and footwear provided the only upward contribution particularly women's outerwear due to prices rising more than they did last year. Hotel accomodation provided a small upward contribution in the hotels and restaurants sector.

Housing provided the largest upward contribution to the RPI mainly due to mortgage interest payments. House depreciation also had an effect. Clothing and footwear added to the increase in the RPI. Fares and other travel particularly air fares also helped increase the RPI. Downward contributions came from motoring expenses, where fuel price increases were lower than last year, leisure and household goods and off-sales wines and spirits within the alcoholic beverages sector.

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.

Producer Prices Increase 0.4%

Output prices of manufactured products increased by 0.4% in the year to September compared to August when they fell by 0.3%. Prices increased over the month between August and September by 0.5%. The changes reflect increases in the prices of petroleum products of 2% and changes in duty on petroleum products which is estimated to have added 0.2% to the output index. Unleaded petrol is reported to have increased by 2.6% between August and September but decreased by 3.1% over the last year. Prices excluding excise duties fell by 0.6% over the year and increased by 0.4% on the month and excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum increased by 1.4% over the year and 0.5% over the month.

Input prices for materials and fuels fell by 6.5% over the year to September and fell 0.5% over the month. It compares with a fall of 7.7% in the year to August. The manufacturing index fell 0.5% between August and September compared with 1.7% for the same time last year. The fall reflects the fall of 4.4% in the price of crude oil for the month and 24.1% over the year. Imported materials increased by 1% over the month to September offsetting the fall. The index excluding food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum fell by 1.7%.

Fall In Prices At Factory Gate In August

The 'factory gate' or output producer prices annual inflation for all manufactured goods for consumer sales fell 0.4% in August. These are the prices manufacturers sell their goods. Input price annual inflation, the price at which they buy their materials, fell 7.5% in August compared with 12.2% in July. Month on month output prices actually rose 0.2% in August and input prices rose 2.2%. The output index that leaves out the more volatile sectors like food, beverages, tobacco and petrol rose 0.7%. These index numbers reflect an increase in the price of crude oil and other imported materials of 1.6%.

Food Helps CPI Rate Stay The Same

The CPI rate of inflation rose by 1.8% the same amount as in June with the index at 110.9 compared with 111.0 in June. The RPI fell by 1.4% over the same period compared with a fall of 1.6% to June. The RPIX rose by 1.2% from 1.0% in June.

The largest contribution to the downward trend cam from food and non-alcoholic beverages. Meat prices are falling this year but were rising a year ago across a range of products. vegetables also contributed a large downward effect and bread and cereals a smaller effect. Other downward effects came from hotels and retaurants, particularly restaurants and cafes and especially take-aways and accomodation services. Housing and household services alse feature due to fuel costs. Within this grouping regular maintenance and repairs had an effect offsetting and upward effect from rents.

Recreation and culture provided the biggest upward contribution mainly games, toys and hobbies but with small effect from an increase in the prices of computer games and DVDs. Small price rises in alcoholic beverages andf tobacco also contributed a small increase.

Motoring expenditure made the biggest upward contribution to the RPI. Car prices rose this year compared to last and tax and insurance premiums also rose by more than last year. A large downward contribution from petrol and oil helped offset these effects where prices rose more slowly than last year. Other large downward contributions came from fuel and light, fares and other travel costs. Large upward contributions came from household goods, housing, household services and leisure goods.

Inflation Down To Below 2% In June

The Consumer Price Index was down to 1.8% in the month of June from 2.2% in May. The RPI fell by 1.6% over the year. Food and beverages were again the main downward contribution as with 'factory gate' prices. Furniture and household equipment were also a factor. Recreation and culture contributed a large upward pressure. As an internationally comparative measure the CPI shows that UK inflation in May was 2.2%. The provisional figure for the EU as a whole was 0.7%. The statistics are from the ONS.

Producer Price Inflation Down 1.2%

The output price index for home sales of manufactured products was down 1.2% in the year to June according to the ONS Producer Price Index bulletin. The ‘factory gate’ index reflects a fall in chemical prices of 3.0% between May and June partly offset by increases in petroleum products of 3.9%. Leaving out ‘volatile’ sectors, like food, beverages, tobacco and petroleum, the ‘narrow’ index increased 0.1%. Petroleum products actually fell by 19.9% over the year. Input prices for materials and fuels bought by the manufacturing industry fell 11.0% in the year to June but rose 1.5% in the month from May to June. The ‘narrow’ index fell 2.6%. The rise in the input index reflects mainly the change in the price of crude oil rising by 14.3% in May but falling by 36.8% over the year to June. The price of imports fell 0.3% between May and June.

Output Prices Up, Input Prices Down

Output prices were up 1.2% in year-on-year figures to April compared with 2.0% on year to March. Monthly figures were up 0.6% March to April reflecting the rise in petroleum products originally announced in the 2007 Budget and additional increases in excise duty. The excise duty on products like petrol, tobacco and alcoholic drinks may have added 0.2% to the overall output index. Excluding duty the annual index was up 0.9% and the monthly 0.4%. The output prices index excluding food and beverages rose 2.4% in year to April and the monthly index was up by 0.4%.

Input prices fell by 5.0% in the year to April and by 1.0% in the month March to April compared to 3.9% last year. It is the largest annual decrease since a fall of 5.3% in 2002. The fall reflects an 8.2% fall in the price of fuel in the month offset by a rise in crude oil prices. The prices of imported materials fell 1.0% in the month. Input prices for manufacturing excluding food and beverages rose by 3.3% in the year compared with 7.6% in year to March but fell 0.7% in the month.