Manufacturing: the material and energy costs that reach a factory

The input costs the engine links to manufacturing, what it is seeing now, and how its calls have scored.

Updated 17 Sept 2026

This page covers businesses that make things: food and drink, metal products, plastics, textiles, furniture, electronics and machinery: UK SIC 2007 section C, divisions 10 to 33 (manufacturing). Source: Office for National Statistics: UK Standard Industrial Classification of economic activities (UK SIC 2007).

Inputs the engine links to manufacturing

The engine links 12 of the inputs it tracks to manufacturing: Steel, Aluminium, Copper & wiring, Wheat & grain, Packaging, Polymers & plastics, Semiconductors, Textiles & cotton, Timber & furniture, Sugar, Milk & dairy, Food ingredients.

The engine records which lines of business consume each input it tracks, by UK SIC code. These are the inputs it links to the SIC codes in this industry. It is an industry-level inference, not a claim about any one business.

Steel (SIC 25110, 25120, 28110, 29100, 30110)
Aluminium (SIC 29100, 30300, 25920)
Copper & wiring (SIC 27120, 27510, 26300, 29310)
Wheat & grain (SIC 10710, 10720, 10730, 10890, 10910, 11050, 11060)
Packaging (SIC 11070, 10130, 20420)
Polymers & plastics (SIC 22210, 22220, 22230, 22290, 29100)
Semiconductors (SIC 26200, 26300, 26400, 26510, 29310)
Textiles & cotton (SIC 14120, 14130, 14140, 14190, 15200, 13920, 13930)
Timber & furniture (SIC 31010, 31020, 31090, 16240)
Sugar (SIC 10720, 10820, 11070, 10710)
Milk & dairy (SIC 10520, 10820, 10710)
Food ingredients (SIC 10130, 10390, 10710, 10890)

Costs most businesses share

These apply to any business that uses power, employs staff or borrows:

Energy costs: the electricity and gas a business buys to run its premises, machinery, heating and refrigeration
Wage costs: pay and the costs that come with it: minimum and living wage rates, employer taxes on pay, and market pay growth
Interest rates and borrowing costs: what a business pays to borrow: overdrafts, loans, asset finance and the central-bank rates they are priced from

What the engine is tracking now

No indexed analysis names one of these inputs right now, and 1 more cover the costs most businesses share.

No indexed analysis names one of these inputs right now.

On the costs most businesses share

2026-09-17 The Bank of England's decision to hold interest rates and end long-term gilt sales led to a decrease in government borrowing costs, with yields on both short- and long-term bonds falling significantly. UK

How the engine's calls on these inputs have scored

Not enough graded calls yet to show a hit rate: 6 graded so far, 8 pending.

By input, and how calls are graded

Steel: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Aluminium: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Copper & wiring: Not enough graded calls yet: 5 graded so far, 2 pending.
Wheat & grain: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 3 pending.
Packaging: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Polymers & plastics: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Semiconductors: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Textiles & cotton: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Timber & furniture: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Sugar: Not enough graded calls yet: 1 graded so far, 2 pending.
Milk & dairy: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 0 pending.
Food ingredients: Not enough graded calls yet: 0 graded so far, 1 pending.

Every cost call is dated when it is published and graded against a published benchmark series once its period ends. No hit rate is shown for fewer than 30 graded calls. How calls are graded.

How this analysis was produced

Data sources: Office for National Statistics: UK Standard Industrial Classification of economic activities (UK SIC 2007); Atri engine: its input taxonomy, indexed analyses and the public track record
What the AI did: No AI wrote this page. It is assembled automatically from the engine: the inputs its taxonomy links to these SIC codes, the indexed analyses on them (each written by an AI model, with its own disclosure) and the graded track record.
Checked automatically: only indexed analyses are listed; no hit rate under 30 graded calls.
What people did: People mapped each input to the SIC codes of the industries that consume it. No person reviews this page before it changes.
Data as of: 17 September 2026

By the Branch² Intelligence Desk. How the analysis is made · Editorial policy and corrections

Automated analysis for information only. Not investment advice. Read the full disclaimer.