Industrial production plunges in January
Activity in the industrial sector contracted in January, recording the worst reading in over a year. Industrial production decreased a seasonally-adjusted 1.0% from the previous month, contrasting December’s 0.4% rise. The result was worse than market analysts’ expectations of a 0.5% fall. January’s downturn mainly reflected falling production of energy, which is often related to weather conditions.
On an annual basis, industrial production expanded 2.7%, the smallest growth rate since April 2017 (December: +5.3% year-on-year). Meanwhile, the trend pointed up with annual average industrial production growth rising from 2.9% in December to 3.1%.
Among the Euro area economies for which data is available, the largest contractions in industrial production were registered in the Netherlands (-5.7% month-on-month) and Spain (-2.5% mom). On the flipside, Portugal had the best performance with industrial output growing 2.5% over the previous month. Among the region’s remaining largest economies, industrial output sunk in France (-2.0% mom) but grew in Germany (+0.3% mom) and Italy (+1.6%).