Bergur Thormundsson
Research expert covering technology in the Nordics, AI and smart cities
Lighting market in the UK - statistics & facts
In the past ten years, the sales value of electrical equipment manufactured in the United Kingdom (UK) has seen a net decrease, dropping to roughly 907 million British pounds in 2020. Product costs, on the other hand, have been growing recently: between July 2020 and July 2021, production costs of electric lighting equipment in the UK increased by more than 10 percent. Additionally, export figures were growing up until 2019, with roughly 567 million British pounds worth of lamps and lighting fittings exported in 2019. However, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the export value dropped to just around 470 million British pounds in 2020, the lowest figure in the previous five years.
Regarding developments within the manufacturing industry for lighting equipment, the past decade has seen fluctuating sales values of plastic parts for lamps and lighting fittings. A peak of 86.1 million British pounds was recorded in 2012 before figures declined to around 50.3 million British pounds in 2020. Similarly, the sales revenue of ceiling and wall lighting fittings recorded a slight net decrease between 2008 and 2020, with a peak in 2015 at some 436.7 million British pounds.
Declining sales of lighting and lighting equipment
The sales volume of a variety of UK manufactured lamps has taken a dip as well. For example, sales of electric lighting for motor vehicles in the UK were down by 30 percent in 2020 compared with the previous year, resulting in a decrease of the sales value of about 23 percent in the same period. While the volume of portable electric lamps sold in the country in 2020 almost doubled compared with 2019, their sales value decreased by about 16 percent.Regarding developments within the manufacturing industry for lighting equipment, the past decade has seen fluctuating sales values of plastic parts for lamps and lighting fittings. A peak of 86.1 million British pounds was recorded in 2012 before figures declined to around 50.3 million British pounds in 2020. Similarly, the sales revenue of ceiling and wall lighting fittings recorded a slight net decrease between 2008 and 2020, with a peak in 2015 at some 436.7 million British pounds.
Sales revenue of main manufacturers take a hit in 2020
Signify Commercial UK, Thorn Lighting, and Holophane are counted among the biggest lighting manufacturers in the UK. Between 2016 and 2020, sales revenues of the three companies were generally declining. The year 2020 proved to be especially challenging for these companies: all of them generated the lowest revenue of the past five years. While Thorn Lighting’s and Signify Commercial UK’s revenue contracted by some 10 percent and 14 percent in 2020 compared with 2019, respectively, Holophane suffered a dip in revenue of almost 22 percent.
