Short-term output indicators: October to December 2021

Data showing the short term movements in the output of industries in the production, construction and market services sectors for October to December 2021.

Impact of coronavirus

These estimates cover October to December 2021 and annual estimates for 2021. Both of these time periods occurred during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, however annual comparisons to 2020 roughly included the first nine months of the pandemic.

Care should be taken when interpreting these indices, estimates for individual quarters can fluctuate and it is recommended that emphasis is based on longer-term trends.

Estimates for Wales are typically more volatile than the UK, and as a result comparison between the two should be made with caution, especially over the shorter-term.

Main points

This chart shows the time series for the indices of production, construction, and market services since 1999. The overall trend is the index of market services and index of production have generally increased since 1999, but the index of construction has fluctuated over the same time period. All indices experienced a steep fall in 2020 Q2 due to the coronavirus pandemic, however have since been recovering or are fully recovered.

All three indices increased on an annual basis (the latest four quarters compared to the previous four quarters) for Wales. On a quarterly basis two indices showed decreases. This follows a period of change with the largest quarterly decreases on record in April to June 2020 (which included part of the initial lockdown period) and the subsequent largest increases on record during July to September 2020 (reflecting the easing of restrictions over the summer months).

Index of Market Services

The longer-term trends show an 8.6% increase for Wales and a 6.2% increase for the UK in 2021, compared with the previous twelve months.
In Wales, five of the nine Market Service industry indices increased on an annual basis.
The Index of Market Services for Wales shows a 1.4% decrease when compared to the previous quarter. UK output increased by 1.6% over the same period.

Index of Production

The longer-term trend for Wales shows a 2.0% increase in 2021 on an annual basis. UK output increased by 5.1% over the same period.
Compared to the previous quarter, Index of Production decreased by 3.1% in Wales and by 0.2% in the UK.

Index of Construction

The longer-term trend for Wales shows a 21.6% increase in 2021 on an annual basis. UK output increased by 12.9% over the same period.
The Index of Construction for Wales shows a 4.6% increase when comparing the latest quarter to the previous quarter. UK output increased by 1.0% over the same period.

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