According to Make UK, the UK’s manufacturing sector has risen in the global rankings to reach 11th place.

This is up one place on last year’s world rankings and comes after the sector dropped out of the top ten for the first time in the previous data.

Make UK’s annual ‘Manufacturing – The Facts’ report contains a wide variety of data about manufacturing here in the UK and its value to the economy. It includes details on exports, provides a sectoral breakdown, how UK industry compares to other nations, jobs and salary levels.

The data shows that in 2023 (the latest year for which global comparisons are available) UK manufacturing output was worth a revised $279bn, leaving it behind Brazil ($290bn) which has moved back into the top ten for the first time since 2012.

In terms of other nations, China is by far the largest manufacturing nation with output worth $4.8trn. The United States comes in a distant second with output worth $2.8trn, with Japan third at $840bn.

Germany remains the biggest manufacturing nation in Europe by some distance ($838bn) and retains its position as the world’s fourth largest manufacturing nation. It is followed by South Korea and India who have swapped places in fifth and sixth respectively, and Mexico.

Italy and France are the second and third largest manufacturing nations in Europe at 8th ($353bn) and 9th globally ($296bn).

Commenting Dr Seamus Nevin, Chief Economist at Make UK, said, “These figures reflect not just the importance of manufacturing to the economy but factors and trends which are redrawing the contours of the global economy at an accelerating rate. These trends reinforce why it was vital to introduce a long-term industrial strategy to take competitive advantage of our undoubted strengths. This will ensure the UK retains its place at the top table of advanced manufacturing nations where it has many world class sectors.”

The date shows that manufacturing still has an important role in the UK economy and accounts for 42% of total exports, along while almost half of business R&D (48%) and almost a fifth of business investment (17%).

Average manufacturing salaries stand at £41,220, which is significantly higher than the average of the economy overall at £38,224 and services £37,559.

The United States remains the UK’s largest export market and was worth £59.3bn in 2024. Germany is the second highest destination (£32.1.bn) while The Netherlands is third (£27.9bn).

Interestingly seven of the top ten export markets are in the EU, worth approximately £143bn.

That’s twice the level of exports to the US and around nine times the amount going to China (£16.7bn).

According to Make UK, this highlights the continued importance of the EU for UK goods and the need for the Government to continue to smooth out trade barriers with what remains overwhelmingly the UK’s dominant global export market.