The rate of furniture production during September registered a monthly decline whilethe value in domestic goods was also down on the previous month and against last year.

According to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, the rate of furniture production declined 1% compared to August, while also down 10.9% on September last year.

Monthly production output has shown no growth in September 2023. This follows a fall of 0.5% in August 2023.

Meanwhile, the value of the manufacture of furniture for September resulted at £830.9m, down 4.4% from £869.8m in August. Against the same period last year, the value fell 12.9% from £954.4m.

As for the value of furniture manufacturer exports, this decreased 8.1% to £52.8m for the month from £57.5m. Against last year, exports value fell 37% from £85.1m. The value of domestic furniture manufacture decreased 4.2% to £778.1m from £812.3m in the month, while down 10.4% from £869.3m last year.

Monthly real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 0.2% in September 2023, following growth of 0.1% in August 2023, revised down from growth of 0.2% in our previous publication. Looking at the broader picture, GDP showed no growth in the three months to September 2023.

Commenting on the GDP figures, ONS Director of Economic Statistics Darren Morgan said: “The economy is estimated to have shown no growth in the third quarter. Services dropped a little with falls in health, management consultancy and commercial property rentals. These were partially offset by growth in engineering, car sales and machinery leasing.

“There were also small growths in manufacturing, led by cars and metal products, while construction grew due to new commercial property work. In the month of September the economy grew slightly, with increases in film production, health and education. This growth was partially offset by falls in retail and computer programming.”