Euro area industrial production down by 1 pct: Eurostat

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Seasonally adjusted industrial production dropped by 1 percent in the euro area (EA19) and by 0.7 percent in the EU28 in January, compared to the previous month, the statistical office of the European Union announced on Wednesday.

In December 2017, industrial production has increased by 0.4 percent in the euro area and by 0.3 percent in the EU28, according to Eurostat's statement.

Eurostat underlined, the decrease of 1 percent in the euro area stemmed from fallings in the production of energy (6.6 percent), durable consumer goods (1.9 percent) and intermediate goods (1 percent).

Meanwhile, production of capital goods and non-durable consumer goods rose by 1.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, said the statement.

The EU28's decline is also due to the falling of energy production by 3.3 percent, durable consumer goods by 1.4 percent, intermediate goods by 0.6 percent and non-durable goods by 0.3 percent, while production of capital goods rose by 1.2 percent.

"Among member states for which data are available, the largest decreases in industrial production were registered in the Netherlands (5.7 percent), Romania (2.9 percent) and Spain (2.5 percent), and the highest increases in Portugal (2.5 percent), Estonia (1.9 percent) and Denmark (1.8 percent).

- Annual comparison

Eurostat also said industrial production has increased by 2.7 percent in the euro area and by 3 percent in the EU28 in January, compared with the same month of 2017.

In the euro area, production of capital goods rose by 8.5 percent, intermediate goods by 5.1 percent, durable consumer goods by 3.8 percent and non-durable consumer goods by 3 percent, while production of energy fell by 10.4 percent, year-on-year in January.

In this period, the EU 28's production of capital goods rose by 8.3 percent, intermediate goods by 5.1 percent, durable consumer goods by 4.2 percent and non-durable consumer goods by 2.7 percent, while production of energy fell down by 7.4 percent.

Romania, Estonia and Sweden registered the highest increases with 8.5 percent, 7.7 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively, while the Netherlands, Malta and Greece saw biggest declines with 6.6 percent, 1.7 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.