Euro area industrial production rises 1.3 pct: Eurostat

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 1.3 percent in the euro area (EA19) and by 1.2 percent in the EU28 in May, compared to April, the statistical office of the European Union announced on Thursday.

In April 2018, industrial production fell by 0.8 percent in both zones, according to Eurostat's statement.

Eurostat underlined, the increase of 1.3 percent in the euro area stemmed from risings in the production of durable and non-durable consumer goods (2.1 percent), intermediate goods (1.6 percent), capital goods (0.7 percent) and energy (0.5 percent).

The EU28's risings is also due to the increasing of durable consumer goods (2.0 percent), non-durable consumer goods (1.7 percent), intermediate goods (1.6 percent) and capital goods (0.6 percent).

Meanwhile, in the month, production of energy fell by 0.1 percent in the EU28.

"Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in industrial production were registered in Lithuania (11.6 percent), Sweden (3.4 percent) and Ireland (3.2 percent), and the largest decreases in Denmark (2.8 percent) and Portugal (2.0 percent)," the TurkStat said.

- Annual comparison

Eurostat also said industrial production has increased by 2.4 percent both in the euro area and the EU28 in May, compared with the same month of 2017.

In the euro area, production of capital goods rose by 3.9 percent, non-durable consumer goods by 2.4 percent and intermediate goods by 2.3 percent, while production of durable consumer goods and energy saw a decline by 0.2 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively, in May.

In this period, the EU 28's production of capital goods rose by 3.7 percent, intermediate goods by 2.2 percent, non-durable consumer goods by 2 percent and durable consumer goods by 1.4 percent, while production of energy only dropped by 0.8 percent.

Poland, Ireland and Slovenia registered the highest increases with 7.8 percent, 7.3 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, while Malta, Denmark and Portugal saw biggest declines with 6.3 percent, 3.3 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.