Manufacturing production increases in the UK

The September index of production stood at 0.4%, a tiny growth from the previous period and beating estimates of 0.3%.

The key points of the report include:

• Total production output is estimated to have increased by 0.2% between Q2 2014 and Q3 2014. The largest contribution to the quarterly growth came from manufacturing, which increased by 0.4%.
• Total production output is estimated to have increased by 1.5% in September 2014 compared with September 2013. Of the four main sectors, manufacturing output was the only one to rise, increasing by 2.9%.
• Total production in September 2014 is estimated to have increased by 0.6% compared with August 2014. There were increases in three of the main sectors, with mining & quarrying being the largest contributor, increasing by 3.8%.
• Manufacturing output is estimated to have increased by 0.4% between August 2014 and September 2014. The main subsectors contributing to the increase were transport equipment; computer, electronic & optical products; and chemicals and chemical products.
• In the three months to September 2014, production and manufacturing were 9.5% and 4.1% respectively below their figures reached in the pre-downturn GDP peak in Q1 2008.
• The preliminary estimate of GDP, published on the 24 October 2014, contained a forecasted increase of 0.5% for production in Q3 2014. This release of data estimates that production increased by 0.2% between Q2 2014 and Q3 2014 and the impact on the previously published GDP estimate for Q3 2014 is minimal. This was due to revisions to electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning sector data, where estimates were replaced by late data.