Euro Area: Industrial production increases at faster pace in May
Industrial output rose 0.8% over the previous month in seasonally adjusted terms in May, accelerating from April’s 0.5% increase. May’s result reflected faster rises in the production of capital, durable and non-durable consumer goods more than offsetting declining energy production. Meanwhile, the production of intermediate goods remained unchanged from the previous month.
Looking at the individual economies for which data is available, industrial output expanded in ten countries, while it contracted in eight. Looking at the most important economies, production increased in Germany, while it decreased in Italy, France, the Netherlands and Spain.
On an annual basis, industrial production expanded 1.6% in May, contrasting April’s 2.5% drop. Lastly, annual average growth in industrial production moderated to 3.1% from April’s 3.6%.
Commenting on the outlook, Bert Colijn, senior economist at ING, stated:
“The eurozone economy is slowing rapidly and this is most apparent in manufacturing according to the monthly survey data. The PMI indicates that new orders are already weakening and that supply chain problems continue to dampen the production that businesses can achieve if orders are still coming in. In the months ahead, we therefore expect weakness to trickle through to the production data more seriously.”