A User’s Guide
to PRODCOM
December 2015
Edition No.:
2
Editor:
Simon Weakley
Office for National Statistics
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A User’s Guide to PRODCOM
A National Statistics publication
Copyright and reproduction
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© Crown copyright 2015
About us
The Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the executive office
of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department
which reports directly to Parliament. ONS is the UK
government’s single largest statistical producer. It compiles
information about the UK’s society and economy, and provides
the evidence-base for policy and decision-making, the
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is the Authority's Chief Executive and the Head of the
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Contacts
This publication
For information about the content of this publication, contact
the PRODCOM team.
Tel: 01633 456746
Email: prodcompublications@ons.gsi.gov.uk
Other customer enquiries
ONS Customer Contact Centre
Tel: 0845 601 3034
International: +44 (0)845 601 3034
Minicom: 01633 815044
Email: info@statistics.gsi.gov.uk
Fax: 01633 652747
Post: Room 1.101, Government Buildings,
Cardiff Road, Newport, South Wales NP10 8XG
www.ons.gov.uk
Media enquiries
Tel: 0845 604 1858
Email: press.office@ons.gsi.gov.uk
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Contents
A National Statistics publication ................................................................................................. 2
About us ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Contacts ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Copyright and reproduction ......................................................................................................... 2
Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4
What variables does PRODCOM provide? .................................................................................. 4
Individual product information ......................................................................................................... 4
Value .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Volume ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Unit value ................................................................................................................................... 5
SIC Totals ....................................................................................................................................... 5
UK manufacturer sales of individual products listed in this product group ................................... 5
All other income.......................................................................................................................... 5
Total UK manufacturer sales of products in this product group ................................................... 6
Merchanted goods...................................................................................................................... 6
Work done .................................................................................................................................. 6
Waste products .......................................................................................................................... 6
Non production income............................................................................................................... 6
Net carry-in/carry-out .................................................................................................................. 6
Total turnover of businesses classified to this industry ............................................................... 6
A note about HMRC trade data ....................................................................................................... 6
A guide to the Data Explorer ...................................................................................................... 12
PRODINDS: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Industry Breakdown. .......................... 14
PRODPRODS: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Product Breakdown. ...................... 17
A guide to the Excel spreadsheets ............................................................................................ 23
Annex A – Before and after views of Excel reference tables ................................................... 24
Annex B – Data Markers for Data Explorer (Open Data) and Excel Reference Tables ........... 26
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Introduction
The UK Manufacturers’ Sales by Product survey, more commonly known as PRODCOM, is the
most comprehensive annual business survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS),
covering product sales in the manufacturing industry. Prior to 1993 product information was
collected through the Annual and Quarterly Sales Inquiries (ASI/QSI).
The survey collects information from approximately 21,500 UK manufacturing businesses from a
total of 234 manufacturing industries1, covering approximately 3,800 products2. Though every
business is classified to a specific manufacturing industry, each business can span a variety of
products depending on the diversity of its activity. This enables businesses to contribute to multiple
industries product sales. In addition to product sales information, businesses supply nonmanufacturing income. This allows investigation of the proportion of manufacturing and nonmanufacturing activity in each manufacturing industry.
Due to the complexity of the PRODCOM survey, this guide has been created to aid interpretation
of the PRODCOM estimates and the tables they are presented in. The guide will be updated
annually with any changes to the tables or variables provided. We welcome any comments or
thoughts you might have about this guide, and would be particularly interested in any suggested
improvements. Please contact us via email: prodcompublications@ons.gsi.gov.uk or telephone on
+44 (0)1633 456746.
What variables does PRODCOM provide?
There are two ways to consider the PRODCOM data; in terms of businesses classified to an
industry and in terms of products corresponding to an industry. Product information, either
individual products or total product sales in the SIC totals table, relate to products corresponding to
an industry irrespective of which SIC the business making the product is classified to. On the other
hand, all other variables found in the SIC totals table refer to the activity of businesses classified to
just the SIC in question.
Individual product information
Information is collected on approximately 3,800 products as defined in the PRODCOM list, which is
updated every year by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). Each product is identified by an
8-digit PRODCOM commodity code. The first 4 digits of the code correspond to the classes of
NACE 2 (which corresponds to SIC07 in the UK1). The first 6 digits are the CPA code2, while the
last 2 digits show the classification of a heading within this CPA code. See figure 1 for an example:
1
These industries are defined at the 4-digit SIC level. SIC is a Standard Industrial Classification used to
classify business establishments by the type of economic activity they are engaged in. SIC07 is the latest
revision of SIC
2 At the 8-digit PRODCOM commodity code level based on 6-digit CPA (Classification of Products by
Activity)
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Figure 1: An example of how product classification breaks down.
Value
Value variables refer to the production sold for each product, rather than the total produced, and
are reported in £ thousands. All “products” classified to an SIC starting with 33 (33XX) refer to
industrial services rather than physical products; therefore the reported values refer to the fee paid.
Volume
Volume variables also refer to the production sold for each product, rather than the total produced.
In some cases no volume data is required by Eurostat, therefore only value is reported.
Furthermore when the product refers to an industrial service no volume is reported. Often
businesses have difficulty providing volume information resulting in low response, and therefore a
high level of estimation. This may impact on the quality of the estimates, and is highlighted by an E
next to the relevant figures in the reference tables.
Unit value
Unit value is separately calculated if both value and volume information for a product has been
supplied, and is provided in £s.
SIC Totals
The following SIC totals variables can be used when considering the data in terms of products
corresponding to an industry, rather than businesses:
UK manufacturer sales of individual products listed in this product group
This variable is the total sales of all products corresponding to an industry that are not
suppressed in the publication. A product value is suppressed if too few businesses respond to
a question, or if there is a dominant contributor, which could lead to disclosure. Product
volumes and unit values suppressed as disclosive are marked by an S, whereas product
values suppressed as disclosive are marked by an S*. In the data explorer format all values
suppressed as disclosive are marked by a c.
All other income
This variable is the manufacturers' sales of minor products; products with sales values of less
than £25,000 each, and products that have been marked by an S*.
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Total UK manufacturer sales of products in this product group
This variable can be used when considering the data in terms of products corresponding to an
industry. This variable is the total sales of all products in the SIC07 industry. This is the sum of
variables “all other income” and “UK manufacturer sales of individual products listed in this
product group”.
The remaining SIC totals variables can be used when considering the data in terms of businesses
classified to an industry, rather than products:
Merchanted goods
Merchanted goods refers to the value of sales of goods that have been bought in and resold
without being subject to any manufacturing process.
Work done
Work done refers to the amount charged to a customer by a business, for work done on
material provided by the customer. The business does not report the final product in product
sales as the materials are owned by the customer, not the business.
Waste products
Waste products refers to the value of sales of waste products and residues left over after
manufacture.
Non production income
Non-production income is derived from the provision of services and other non-production
activities not listed in the other variables above. This could include freight costs, payments for
repairs, maintenance and installation of customers' plant and equipment (where not covered by
an industrial services product code), amounts received for use of patents, trademarks,
copyrights, royalties, technical knowledge, rent etc.
Net carry-in/carry-out
This variable refers to products classified to the SIC07 industry but manufactured by businesses
classified outside the industry (Carry-in) and products classified outside the industry but
manufactured by businesses classified within the industry (Carry-out). Net carry in/carry out is
calculated Carry-out less Carry-in. When this figure is positive it means carry-out is greater than
carry-in, but if the figure is negative carry-in is greater than carry-out.
Total turnover of businesses classified to this industry
This variable is the sum of all product sales, merchanted goods, work done, waste products,
non production income and net carry-in/carry-out for all businesses classified to the SIC
industry.
A note about HMRC trade data
Up to the June 2013 release, estimates of Intra and Extra EU Imports and Exports were also
reported alongside the estimates of PRODCOM sales. These data are collected by HMRC, and
were matched with the PRODCOM codes for the benefit of demonstrating the UK trade balance.
However, there are several differences between the PRODCOM and International Trade statistics
data sources therefore trade data has been removed until the comparability between the sources
can be improved. Any updates will be provided on the PRODCOM news page.
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Case Study: how can the data be used?
Joe Bloggs is interested in SIC 1105, the manufacture of beer, and wants to use the PRODCOM
data to learn more. Joe needs to select Division 11 in the Open Data explorer or go the Division 11
data tab of the Excel spreadsheets, and then navigate to SIC 1105:
Table 1: SIC Totals for Manufacture of beer
SIC(07) 1105 - Manufacture of beer
£ Thousands
SIC Totals and Non Production Headings
2012
Sales
2013
Sales
2014
Sales
UK manufacturer sales of individual products listed in this
product group
All other income
3,269,155
173
3,296,963
184
3,285,923
251
Total UK manufacturer sales of products in this product group
Merchanted goods
Work done
Waste Products
Non production income
Net carry in/carry out
Total turnover of businesses classified to this industry
3,269,328
940,097
S
S
91,487
489,314
4,885,877
3,297,147
1,027,641
73,125
1,846
89,346
398,694
4,887,798
3,286,174
1,009,721
68,991
1,388
82,039
496,922
4,945,235
Table 1 shows the total of all product sales in this industry in 2014 is £3.3 billion. Table 2 below
provides further information on individual products within the industry which sum to give this figure.
For example:
Table 2: Product Sales data for Beer made from malt
11051000 (CN 2203) - Beer made from malt (EXCLUDING
alcohol duty) EXCLUDING: - non-alcoholic beer - beer
containing not more than 0.5% by volume of alcohol
Value £000's
Volume (Thousand litres)
£ per Thousand litres
£ Thousands
2012
Sales
3,227,365
4,933,592
654.16
2013
Sales
3,244,999
4,804,581
675.40
2014
Sales
3,244,872
4,894,065
663.02
Using this product information, Joe can calculate what proportion of the total beer product sales is
contributed by this product: £3,244,872,000/£3,286,174,000 = 98.7% of total beer product sales.
Unfortunately some of the data in this industry is suppressed so Joe will not be able to find out
about all the products.
There is further information available in the SIC totals table in addition to the product sales which
will allow Joe to see the composition of the industry’s turnover. See figure 2:
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Figure 2: The composition of turnover in the manufacture of beer industry in 2014
This shows the majority of turnover in this industry comes from product sales at 76.5%; 66.5% from
total product sales and 10.0% from net carry-in/carry-out. “Total UK manufacturer sales of products
in this product group” refers to beer product sales from all businesses irrespective of which SIC
they are classified to. The carry-in/carry-out figure refers to turnover generated by the sale of nonbeer products by businesses classified within the beer industry, and also by the sale of beer
products by businesses not classified to the beer industry. A net carry in (positive figure) indicates
beer businesses are making more products classified elsewhere than beer products made by
businesses not classified to the beer industry, and vice versa for a net carry out (negative figure).
The next largest portion of turnover comes from merchanted goods at 20.4%. Non production
income and work done both only small amounts, 1.7% and 1.4% respectively, while the sale of
waste products contributes a negligible amount to turnover so cannot be seen in figure 2.
Joe could also compare the variables overtime but he must be cautious with this approach as the
value figures are not adjusted for the effects of inflation. However, the possibility of adjusting for
inflation will be investigated, and any updates provided on the PRODCOM news page.
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Open Data and Excel reference tables
PRODCOM publishes tables of estimates on a Data Explorer (Open Data) platform and also via
Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. For the December 2015 release the Data Explorer tables for
PRODCOM have been restructured, with significant developments. There are now 2 tables: “UK
Manufacturers’ Sales By Product Survey - Product Breakdown” containing 2-digit divisional totals
and expanding to show figures at 8-digit product level, while “UK Manufacturers’ Sales By Product
Survey - Industry Breakdown” contains the SIC totals and non production headings at 2-digit
division level, expanding to show the same variables for the 4-digit industry within the division.
Some data in each table will be suppressed to avoid disclosing information about specific
businesses; if there are too few businesses for a variable for example, or a certain respondent is
too dominant for a variable, then the data will be replaced by a marker. These are as described in
the table within Annex B.
A note about the Excel Reference Tables
The Excel tables were redesigned in December 2014 to also contain the division totals, which will
allow Joe to see what proportion of product sales for Division 11 (the manufacture of beverages) is
contributed by products in SIC 1105.
Table 3: UK Manufacturers’ Sales by Industrial Division
Industry
2012
Other mining and quarrying
Manufacture of food products
Manufacture of beverages
Manufacture of tobacco products
Manufacture of textiles
Manufacture of wearing apparel
Manufacture of leather and related products
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture;
Manufacture
paperand
products
manufacture of paper
articlesand
of straw
plaiting materials
Printing and reproduction of recorded media
Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products
Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical
Manufacture
preparations of rubber and plastic products
Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products
Manufacture of basic metals
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products
Manufacture of electrical equipment
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.
Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers
Manufacture of other transport equipment
Manufacture of furniture
Other manufacturing
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment
Total
£ Thousands
2013
2014
S
62,897,838
12,375,786
1,793,420
4,134,488
1,634,262
646,669
5,739,940
10,018,458
8,672,310
S
S
12,288,627
S
10,167,511
7,422,006
S
S
S
26,920,747
39,296,813
23,839,850
6,098,141
S
S
2,302,028
65,714,088
12,384,102
1,723,231
S
S
S
6,213,525
S
7,896,087
S
22,844,184
12,070,913
S
10,269,350
6,817,405
24,353,416
12,078,897
S
26,466,408
44,949,620
27,474,402
6,274,505
S
13,585,576
S
66,845,706
12,768,718
1,831,971
S
S
727,892
S
10,352,925
8,440,071
S
S
11,991,298
S
10,657,478
6,490,140
25,497,562
12,511,492
S
28,249,127
45,966,075
26,539,951
6,448,532
5,125,728
13,637,870
341,984,772
354,521,368
362,318,559
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The total product sales for the beer industry in 2014, was £3,286,174,000 whereas the total
product sales for division 11 were £12,768,718,000. Therefore: £3,286,174,000/£12,768,718,000 =
25.9%.
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A guide to the Data Explorer
The new Data Explorer tool enables users to manipulate the way you look at the PRODCOM data.
Whereas the excel reference tables provide data in separate sheets for each division, the Data
Explorer can provide all information in one dataset, allowing easier comparison between products
classified to different divisions, and between SIC total variables classified to different divisions.
As well as being viewable online, the complete datasets can be extracted and downloaded in a
suitable format. Data is currently only available for 2013 and 2014; however more data for previous
periods will be available in future. Information on further updates can be found on the PRODCOM
news page.
Some of the benefits of the open data format include:

The views are highly customisable so you can see the data you need on a single screen

The data is available as a direct download in a variety of formats including xlsx, csv or xml,
which allows for easy manipulation of large amounts of data

It can be viewed entirely through a web browser, without requiring any data to be
downloaded
When you click on the dataset link on the statistical bulletin you are brought to the page in Figure 3
which shows the two choices of dataset for PRODCOM.

The first contains a breakdown by 2-digit division and 8 digit product group with value,
volume and unit value

The second contains a breakdown by 2 digit division and 4 digit industry with SIC totals.
Figure 3: Data Explorer landing page for PRODCOM
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Once a dataset has been selected, more details about it are displayed as in Figure 4 and clicking
on View allows you to see the data for that dataset. Alternatively, you can select Download to
download the dataset as either a csv, xlsx or xml format, which will contain all the data from all
levels of the hierarchy in the dataset in a single row per year, allowing for easy manipulation of
large amounts of data.
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PRODINDS: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Industry Breakdown.
Figure 4: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Industry Breakdown, main page.
Once you have selected the Industry Breakdown dataset and clicked view as outlined above, you
will see the dataset from figure 5:
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Figure 5: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Industry Breakdown, divisional view.
When you first open the dataset, product sales total data is supplied for each division in rows with
a different column for each year. A dropdown menu at the top allows you to select Total UK
manufacturer sales of products in this product group (the default view) or any of the other SIC
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Totals variables explained previously. Clicking on a division displays the data of all industries
comprising the division, as shown in figure 6 below.
Figure 6: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Industry Breakdown, industry view
The next section covers the second PRODCOM dataset.
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PRODPRODS: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Product Breakdown.
Once you have selected the Industry Breakdown dataset and clicked view as outlined previously
(see figure 3 above), you will see the dataset from figure 7:
Figure 7: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Product Breakdown, main page
Once you have selected the Product Breakdown dataset and clicked view as outlined above, you
will see the dataset from figure 8:
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Figure 8: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Product Breakdown, divisional view
Clicking on a division displays the value, volume or unit value information of all products
comprising the division, depending on what has been selected in the dropdown list at the top.
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Please note:

As different products within a division may be collected in different volume units, only value
data will be displayed at divisional level.

The sum of each product sales value will not equal the divisional total, as the divisional total
includes data from “all other income.”
Clicking on a division displays the data of all products comprising the division, as shown in figure 9
below.
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Figure 9: UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product Survey- Product Breakdown, product view
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Further information on the Data Explorer
The views for either of these tables can be rearranged by clicking on customise view:
Figure 10: Data Explorer options
This opens the menu in figure 11:
Figure 11: Customise view menu
The items shown can be re-arranged depending on how you want to view the data. For example
you may want to view the value, volume and unit value for each product; to do this, simply drag the
Prodcom Elements box out of the wafer, to below the industry box in the row column.
Further features allow you to choose which SICs or products you look at. For example if you are
interested in a particular industry or product you can refine the dataset by clicking on “by topic”
The window from figure 12 is then opened:
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Figure 12: Refining datasets by topic
This allows you to choose whether you just want to view the value, volume or unit price, or a
combination, the SICs and products you are interested in, and the year or years you are interested
in. Once you have made your selection, and pressed submit, the data is shown in the data explorer
previously shown. This can be downloaded to view in an excel table by clicking on download or
viewed in a chart by clicking chart, as illustrated in figure 13:
Figure 13: Data Explorer options, Chart or Download
It is important to note new PRODCOM codes are introduced each year, and existing codes are
changed or deleted, therefore blank spaces may be present for years where the code in question
does not exist. A document outlining these question changes is located here on the PRODCOM
web page.
We aim to continuously improve our outputs and we would welcome thoughts on the new data
explorer and comments on any improvements that would help users. Please contact us via email:
prodcompublications@ons.gsi.gov.uk or telephone on +44 (0)1633 456746.
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A guide to the Excel spreadsheets
Excel reference tables were redesigned for the December 2014 publication following the decision
to remove HMRC trade data. This was due to the comparability issues between the data sources;
further information can be found in the Quality & Methods Information document. In addition to the
removal of trade data, further changes have been made to the tables based on user feedback to
improve usability of the data and to aid navigation:



Time series data are presented in the same table
Ordering of the SIC totals table and removal of codes not required by users
All data and the accompanying quality measures are available in one excel workbook,
rather than having to separately download different workbooks for each division
Before and after views of the spreadsheets can be found in Annex A. We hope these changes
make the data much easier to use. Due to resource constraints, the intention is to gradually phase
out the Excel spreadsheets once the Data Explorer tool is fully functional. Users will be consulted
before this change is implemented.
We aim to continuously improve our outputs and we would welcome thoughts on the new format
and comments on any further improvements that would help users. Please contact us via email:
prodcompublications@ons.gsi.gov.uk or telephone on +44 (0)1633 456746.
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Annex A – Before and after views of Excel reference tables
Figure 14: Before view
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Figure 15: After view
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Annex B – Data Markers for Data Explorer (Open Data) and Excel
Reference Tables
Symbols used in the Excel Reference Tables:
S
S*
N/A
A volume or unit value suppressed as disclosive
A value suppressed as disclosive and aggregated
within the UK Manufacturer Sales of "Other"
products
*
Data not available
Data has low response, and therefore a high level
of estimation, which may impact on the quality of
the estimate
Not able to provide data due to secondary
disclosure, different units of measurement or other
technical issues
.
Not able to calculate
E
Symbols used in the Open Data Tables:
c
Data suppressed as disclosive for any reason
:
Data not available for this question
Data has low response, and therefore a high level
of estimation, which may impact on the quality of
the estimate
The question is not on the PRODCOM List for the
year in question
E
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