Business, industry and trade Construction output contracted for the sixth consecutive period in the three-month on three-month time series, falling by 1.4% in October 2017.
The three-month on three-month fall in construction output stemmed from falls in both repair and maintenance, and all new work, which fell by 3% and 0.6% respectively.
Construction output also contracted month-on-month in October 2017, decreasing 1.7%, in part due to a 1.5% fall in all new work.
New orders saw record growth in Quarter 3 (July to September) 2017, growing by 37.4% compared with the previous quarter.
The record growth was driven predominantly by growth in the infrastructure sector, caused by the awarding of several high-value new orders relating to High Speed 2 (HS2).
Housing new orders also grew in Quarter 3 2017, increasing by 9.5%, recovering from a fall of 4.2% in the previous quarter. Economy In a special article for The Spectator, Richard Heys examines the puzzle and explains the work going on to improve productivity measurement at ONS Commenting on today's short-term indicator figures, Office for National Statistics senior statistician Kate Davies said:
"While manufacturing was relatively subdued overall in October 2017 despite record production of cars destined for export, the longer-term picture is one of strong growth.
"However, despite the stronger performance of UK manufacturers, imports grew more than exports in the three months to October 2017 once erratic items were excluded, slightly widening the underlying trade deficit.
"Construction output continued to fall back from its peak at the start of the year, with both new building and repair work faltering once again. However, construction orders for future work received a huge boost in the third quarter, as many large High Speed 2 (HS2) contracts were awarded." In the three months to October 2017, the Index of Production was estimated to have increased by 1.2% compared with the three months to July 2017, due mainly to a rise of 1.2% in manufacturing.
The largest contribution to the rise in manufacturing in the three months to October 2017 came from transport equipment, which rose by 2.5% followed by other manufacturing and repair, which rose by 2.8%.
In October 2017, total production was estimated to have remained flat at 0.0% compared with September 2017; energy supply provided the largest downward contribution, decreasing by 3.3%, mainly because of unseasonably warm temperatures in October 2017, whilst the other three main sectors provided upward contributions, of which mining and quarrying was the largest.
In October 2017, car production grew by 4.6% compared with September 2017 to match the record index level reached in July 2017.
Total production output for October 2017 compared with October 2016 increased by 3.6%, with manufacturing providing the largest upward contribution, increasing by 3.9%; this was supported by a 14.0% increase in mining and quarrying. Erratic commodities (including non-monetary gold) had a large impact on headline movements in the three months to October 2017; the total UK trade (goods and services) deficit excluding erratic commodities widened by £0.8 billion to £6.9 billion.
The trade in goods deficit with non-EU countries narrowed by £2.9 billion, while the deficit with EU countries widened by £1.2 billion in the three months to October 2017; excluding erratics, the deficit with EU countries widened by £1.9 billion due to a larger increase in imports.
Excluding oil and erratic commodities, imports and exports of goods increased by £2.8 billion and £1.7 billion respectively in the three months to October, which was due mainly to increases in import and export volumes, which grew at a faster rate than prices over the period.
The UK's total trade deficit (goods and services) excluding erratic commodities narrowed by £0.1 billion between September 2017 and October 2017, due primarily to a decrease in goods imports of crude oil from non-EU countries.
Including erratic commodities, the total UK trade (goods and services) deficit narrowed by £2.7 billion to £5.0 billion in the three months to October 2017, due mainly to a narrowing of the trade in goods deficit with non-EU countries.
Data in this release have been revised from January 2016 to September 2017 for both trade in goods and services; most of the revisions to the total trade balance are relatively small and mainly upward, although July to September 2017 saw larger revisions. | 
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