Industrial production in the Euro Area dropped 1.1 percent from a year earlier in January 2019, easing from a 4.2 percent decline in the previous month, which was the steepest in nine years, and beating market expectations of a 2.1 percent fall.
Production of capital goods posted the biggest decrease (-3 percent vs -4.9 percent in December), followed by intermediate goods (-1.8 percent vs -3.5 percent) and durable consumer goods (-1.2 percent vs -4.6 percent). By contrast, there was a rebound in production of both energy (4 percent vs -4.3 percent) and non-durable consumer goods (0.7 percent vs -2.6 percent).
Among Eurozone's largest economies, Germany's industrial output contracted the most (-3.4 percent vs -3.2 percent), followed by Italy (-0.8 percent vs -5.5 percent); while production increases were seen in Spain (2.9 percent vs -6.7 percent) and France (2.2 percent vs -2.8 percent).
In the EU28, industrial production shrank 0.4 percent in January (vs -2.8 percent in December) as output dropped for: capital goods (-2.4 percent vs -3.9 percent); intermediate goods (-1.2 percent vs -2.7 percent); and durable consumer goods (-0.1 percent vs -2.7 percent). Meanwhile, energy production rose 2.9 percent (vs -1.7 percent in December) and non-durable consumer goods output grew 1.4 percent (vs -0.7 percent in December).
On a monthly basis, industrial output surged 1.4 percent in January (vs -0.9 percent in December), also beating market consensus of a 1 percent rise, as output increased for all categories: energy (2.4 percent vs -0.6 percent); non-durable consumer goods (2 percent vs -2 percent); durable consumer goods (1.1 percent vs 0.3 percent); capital goods (0.9 percent vs -1.1 percent); and intermediate goods (0.2 percent vs 0.3 percent).
The biggest output gains were seen in Spain (3.6 percent vs -1.2 percent), Italy (1.7 percent vs -0.7 percent) and France (1.3 percent vs unchanged), while production decreased in Germany (-0.9 percent vs 0.9 percent).
In the EU28, output went up 1 percent in January (vs -0.4 percent in December) due to production of energy (1.4 percent vs 0.3 percent), durable consumer goods (1.3 percent vs 0.2 percent), non-durable consumer goods (1 percent vs -0.7 percent), capital goods (0.9 percent vs -0.9 percent) and intermediate goods (0.3 percent, the same as in December).
Eurostat | Joana Ferreira | joana.ferreira@tradingeconomics.com
3/13/2019 10:33:12 AM