Food And Fuel Reduce CPI

CPI grew from 1.2% in the year to September to 1.3% in the year to October according to a statistical bulletin from the ONS. So goods that cost £100 last October cost £101.3 this October.

The main contributors to the rise in inflation were smaller falls in the costs for motor fuels and air fares and price rises for computer games.

The three main contributors to annual inflation over the last five years have been housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels and restaurants and hotels. Together these three sectors have accounted for nearly half of inflation each month. Food and fuel prices which normally contribute to rises in annual inflation have been helping to reduce it by 0.3%.

Output Increase Of 2.7%

There were increases in production output of 3.8% in manufacturing, 8.5% in water and waste management and 0.2% in mining and quarrying which contributed to the increase of 2.7% in total production output over the year between February 2013 and February 2014. Only electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning reported a decrease of 8.8% due it was thought to this year's warmer February.

The main manufacturing sectors that added to the increase over the year were rubber and plastic products, transport equipment and machinery.

Total production over the month between January and February 2014 increased by 0.9% mainly due to increases in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, transport equipment and food, drink and tobacco.

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.

Durables Maintaining Growth Trends

Motor vehicles in particular have continued the growth trends in consumer goods in the first quarter of 2013 according to the ONS. The latest Consumer Trends statistical bulletin suggests that purchases of cars and household appliances has continued to gain in strength as spending on cars increased by 3.1% in terms of volume and on durables by 2.1%. Spending on major household appliances increased by 5.7%.

Household spending grew by 0.3% in the first quarter of this year due mainly to growth in spending on housing, water, gas elecytricity and other fuels. Households spent 0.3% more in volume terms well below the peak of Q4 2007 but 3.4% more than the recent low of Q2 2009. Current price spending was 17.6% higher than Q2 2009.

Household spending per head in current price terms increased by 0.8% to £3993, £340 more than in Q4 2007.

1% Fall In Production

Production fell by 1% over the year to April 2012 according to figures on the Index of Production from the ONS. Manufacturing fell by 0.3%. Production remained unchanged over the month March to April but manufacturing fell 0.7% over that period.

In more detail, the electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning sector rose by 13.6%, mining & quarrying fell by 5.7% which together with the fall in manufacturing offset the gains slightly. The water and waste management sector was unchanged. The food sector also fell by 5.7% over the year, chemical products fell by 0.9%.

Some sectors grew, electrical equipment grew by 16.5%, transport equipment by 8.8%, machinery and equipment by 6.4% and computer, electronic and optical by 6.2% over the year. The computing sector also saw the biggest growth over the month with an increase of 8.1% while pharmaceuticals fell by 6%.

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%.

River Water Quality Continues To Improve

The annual river water quality results for 2009 were published recently by Defra. River water quality is one of the 68 sustainable development indicators and measures biological and chemical river water quality annually. The indicator represents the proportion of river water considered to be of good quality measured in terms of river length.

The main findings suggest that 73% of English rivers surveyed were of good biological quality in 2009 from 72% in 2008. They also suggest that 80% were of good chemical quality from 79% in 2008. It is the fifth consecutive year of improvement in chemical river water quality.

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.

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.