Belgium: Industrial output growth loses pace in May, partly due to a less favorable base effect
Industrial production increased 10.5% year-on-year in calendar-adjusted terms in May (April: +28.4% c.a. yoy), partly due to a less favorable base effect. Weaker momentum in manufacturing and mining and quarrying production contributed to the downtick.
On a monthly basis, industrial production declined 2.3% in seasonally-adjusted terms in May, contrasting April’s 5.0% expansion. Meanwhile, annual average industrial production growth rose to 2.9% in May (April: +1.6%), which marked an over one-year high.
Going into the end of the second quarter, Ghent’s Volvo factory and Brussels’ Audi facility both halted production due to a chip shortage, which likely weighed on June’s reading.