Data published by Eurostat shows that total industrial production (IP) in the EU increased by +1.8% in the EU, with growth of +1.3% in the Euro-zone when compared to July. Looking back to August 2023, the latest figure was +0.2% higher for the EU and up by +0.1% in the Euro-zone.
Eurostat publishes its output data using IP; while manufacturing makes up the bulk of this, it also includes the extraction, energy production and utilities industries. Unfortunately, they don’t provide a breakdown of IP that includes manufacturing. It is also worth noting that their base period is currently 2021. This data is all seasonally adjusted.
Picking up on the latest trend for total IP, despite the strong figure for August, taking the latest 3-month period (June, July and August), output in the EU was -0.1% lower than the previous block (March, April and May), with a decline of -0.2% for the Euro-zone.
Within the overall figures noted in the introduction, the month-on-month growth was led by the capital goods industries – this is the sub-sector of most interest to us – with an increase of +3.6% in the EU and +3.7% for the Euro-zone. However, compared to August 2023, the trends are more modest with output of this group only growing by +0.2% for both areas.
Staying with the 12-month comparison, 14 of the EU Member States saw total IP higher than in August 2023, 12 registered a negative trend and 1 (Sweden) was unchanged. The strongest improvements were in Ireland (+15.8%, although this is often volatile because of the impact of multi-national headquarters operations), Denmark (+10.7%) and Slovenia (+7.2%); the most significant reductions were in Luxembourg (-11.7%), Estonia (-6.0%) and Hungary (-4.2%).
You can get the full details from the Eurostat News Release which can be downloaded from their website at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/news/euro-indicators (15 October) or requested from MTA.