The rate of furniture production during April 2025 registered a monthly decline, while the value in domestic goods was down on the previous month and also against last year.
According to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, the rate of furniture production fell by 2.5% compared to March, while up 0.8% on April last year.
Overall, production output is estimated to have fallen by 0.6% in April 2025, following a fall of 0.7% in March 2025 and a growth of 1.7% in February 2025. The fall in April 2025 was mainly driven by manufacturing output decreasing by 0.9% in the month.
Meanwhile, the value of the manufacture of furniture for April resulted at £814.7m, down 10.6% from £912.1m in March. Against the same period last year, the value decreased 2.1% from £832.8m.
As for the value of furniture manufacturer exports, this decreased 9.4% to £45.3m for the month from £50m. Against last year, exports value rose 6.8% from £42.4m.
The value of domestic furniture manufacture decreased 10.7% to £769.4m from £862.1m in the month, while also down 2.6% from £790.4m last year.
Monthly real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have fallen by 0.3% in April 2025, following growth of 0.2% in March 2025.
Commenting on the GDP figures for April, ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: “The economy contracted in April, with services and manufacturing both falling. However, over the last three months as a whole GDP still grew, with signs that some activity may have been brought forward from April to earlier in the year.
“Both legal and real estate firms fared badly in April, following a sharp increase in house sales in March when buyers rushed to complete purchases ahead of changes to Stamp Duty. Car manufacturing also performed poorly after growing in the first quarter of the year.
“In contrast April was a strong month for construction, research and development and retail, with increases in these only partially offsetting falls elsewhere.
“After increasing for each of the four preceding months, April saw the largest monthly fall on record in goods exports to the United States with decreases seen across most types of goods, following the recent introduction of tariffs.”
