Russia: Industrial production growth slows in September

Industrial production lost steam in September, expanding a moderate 0.9% year-on-year. The result was below August’s 1.5% expansion and undershot the 1.0% increase that market analysts had expected. Behind the slowdown, was a downturn in mining production, which swung to contraction. Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning output also fell in September.

The overall trend inched up with annual average growth coming in at 1.7% in September, above August’s 1.6%. Looking at a month-on-month comparison, industrial production contracted 0.4% in September, contrasting August’s 0.5% increase.

For this year, our panel of analysts expects industrial production to expand 1.8%, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. For 2018, the panel expects industrial production to accelerate and increase 2.1%, which is unchanged from last month’s projection.