The rate of furniture production during October registered a slight monthly increase while the value in domestic goods was up on the previous month but down against last year.

According to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, the rate of furniture production rose 0.9% compared to September, but was down 8.2% on October last year.

Monthly production output fell by 0.8% in October 2023, driven by widespread declines in manufacturing, after showing no growth in September 2023.

Meanwhile, the value of the manufacture of furniture for October resulted at £926.5m, up 7.7% from £859.9m in September. Against the same period last year, the value fell 1% from £936m.

As for the value of furniture manufacturer exports, this increased 9% to £79.4m for the month from £72.8m. Against last year, exports value fell 1.7% from £80.8m. The value of domestic furniture manufacture increased 7.5% to £847.1m from £787.7m in the month, while down 0.9% from £855.2m last year.

Monthly real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have shown no growth in the three months to October 2023 when compared with the three months to July 2023.

Commenting on the GDP figures, ONS Director of Economic Statistics Darren Morgan said: “Our initial estimates suggest that GDP growth was flat across the last three months. Increases in services, led by engineering, film production and education – which recovered from the impact of summer strikes – were offset by falls in both manufacturing and housebuilding.

“October, however, saw contractions across all three main sectors. Services were the biggest driver of the fall with drops in IT, legal firms and film production – which fell back after a couple of strong months. These were also compounded by widespread falls in manufacturing and construction, which fell partly due to the poor weather.”