European industrial production plunged most on record, 21.6 % from a year earlier

European industrial production plunged by the most on record in April as the impact of the global recession was at its height. In the Eurozone, production tumbled 21.6 percent from a year earlier, the most since the data series commenced in 1986, Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today.

In recent weeks, PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) data; German industrial orders and the announcement that the global economy has bottomed from the German Kiel Institute and a similar upbeat outlook on the UK economy, from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, has encouraged hope that a low-level recovery has begun.

In the month of April 2009, seasonally adjusted industrial production fell by 1.9% in the Eurozone (EA16) and by 0.9% in the EU272 . In March production decreased by 1.4% and 1.3% respectively.

In the year to April 2009, industrial production declined by 21.6% in the Eurozone and by 19.4% in the EU27 .

Monthly comparison

In April 2009, production of non-durable consumer goods fell by 0.7% in theEurozone and by 0.2% in theEU27 . Durable consumer goods (likely to last at least three years) fell by 0.8% and 0.3% respectively. Production of energy dropped by 1.1% in the Eurozone and by 0.2% in the EU27 . Intermediate goods declined by 1.7% and 0.8% respectively. Capital goods fell by 2.7% in the Eurozone and by 1.4% in the EU27.

Ireland provided no data for April. In March production rose 3.8%.

Among the Member States for which data are available, industrial production rose in six andfell in twelve. The highest increases were registered in Latvia (+4.8%), Spain (+2.0%) and Italy (+1.1%), and the most significant falls in Slovenia (-3.8%), Finland (-3.4%) and Estonia (-2.8%).

Annual comparison

Inthe year to April 2009, production of non-durable consumer goods fell by 6.5% in the Eurozone and by 4.4% in the EU27 . Production of energy decreased by 12.3% and 9.6% respectively. Durable consumer goods declined by 22.4% in the Eurozone and by 20.0% in the EU27 . Capital goods dropped by 26.7% and 25.1% respectively. Intermediate goods fell by 27.1% in the Eurozone and by 25.6% in the EU27 .

Industrial production fell in all Member States for which data are available. The largest decreases were registered in Estonia ( -33.7%), Slovenia (-24.9%), Lithuania (-24.5%) and Italy (-24.2%), and the smallest in Poland  (-6.9%), Romania (-7.8%), Portugal (-11.1%), Greece (-12.2%) and the United Kingdom (-12.3%).

In the year to March, production in Ireland fell 3.8%.

Total industry is excluding construction.

Missing observations from Member States are estimated for the calculation of the Eurozone and the EUaggregates.

The Eurozone (EA16) includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

Tables

By Finfacts Team
Jun 12, 2009 – 10:54:02 AM

Source: Finfacts

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