Portugal: Industrial sector contracts sharply again in September

Industrial production continued to fall in annual terms in September and at largely the same rate as the previous month (September: -5.2% year-on-year; August: -5.3% yoy). The drop in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning eased somewhat, but was offset by a swing to contraction in mining and quarrying, and a sharper decline in manufacturing output.

In seasonally-adjusted, month-on-month terms, industrial production fell 2.3% in September, matching August’s contraction. Lastly, the annual average variation in industrial output fell to minus 2.8% in September from minus 2.4% in August.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect industrial production to fall 2.6% in 2020, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s estimate. They see the industrial sector returning to growth in 2021, with output expanding 1.5%.