New orders grew last year to £33.9bn

A 28% drop in December didn't stop new orders increasing in 2003, according to the latest data from the Department of Trade & Industry, published today (Thursday). However, new orders increased just 1% in 2003 to £33.9bn compared with £33.4bn in 2002.

Housing was the best sector to be in last year: public housing orders increased 18% to £1.3bn, while private housing was up 17% to £9.4bn. The other public and private industrial sectors increased 4% and 5% to £6.1bn and £2.3bn respectively.

However, both infrastructure and private commercial were down by 12% and 7% to £4.8bn and £9.7bn respectively.

The total for December was £2.2bn, down from £3.1bn in the same month of 2002, the seventh month of last year to post a year-on-year drop. The difference in the two figures is almost entirely down to the award of the Ministry of Defence's near-£1bn Single Living Accomodation Modernisation programme in December 2002, causing the other public sector to fall back by 68%.

Public and private housing were both up, as was private commercial. However private industrial slipped 1%, while infrastructure fell 24%.

New orders December 2003 (December 2002 in brackets)

• Public housing £91m (£81m)
• Private housing £655m (£628m)
• Infrastructure £239m (£313m)
• Other public £422m (£1,321m)
• Private industrial £145m (£147m)
• Private commercial £730m (£704m)
• Total £2,283m (£3,193m) 

New orders 2003 (2002 in brackets)

• Public housing £1,337m (£1,129m)
• Private housing £9,451m (£8,088m)
• Infrastructure £4,865m (£5,555m)
• Other public £6,157m (£5,910m)
• Private industrial £2,370m (£2,247m)
• Private commercial £9,728m (£10,482m)
• Total £33,907m (£33,411m)