EU: Industrial production down in January

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Industrial production in the EU fell by 0.4 percent year-on-year in January, according to an official report on Wednesday.

The bloc's statistical office said calendar adjusted production index for the industry stood at 103.2 in January, compared to 103.6 the same month last year.

"In the EU28, production of capital goods fell by 4.2 percent, intermediate goods by 3.2 percent, durable consumer goods by 2.9 percent, energy by 1.5 percent and non-durable consumer goods by 0.2 percent," it said.

"In the EU28, production of capital goods fell by 2.4 percent, intermediate goods by 1.2 percent, and durable consumer goods by 0.1 percent.

"... While production of non-durable consumer goods rose by 1.4 percent and energy by 2.9 percent," Eurostat said.

Among member states, the largest annual declines in industrial production were recorded in Ireland (down 6.2 percent), Luxembourg (down 4.2 percent) and Germany with a 3.4 percent drop.

"The highest increases were observed in Slovakia (up 7.2 percent), Poland (up 6.1 percent) and Lithuania (up 5.9 percent)," the statistical office said.

Over the same period, industrial production in the euro area went down 1.1 percent.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency -- euro -- while the EU28 includes all member countries of the bloc.