Eurozone's industrial production up in March

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.5 percent in the euro area (EA19) and by 0.4 percent in the EU28 in March, compared to the previous month, the statistical office of the European Union announced on Tuesday.

In February, industrial production dropped by 0.9 percent in the euro area and by 0.7 percent in the EU28, according to Eurostat's statement.

Eurostat underlined that the increase of 0.5 percent in the euro area stemmed from rises in the production of durable consumer goods (1.5 percent), non-durable consumer goods (1.1 percent), and energy (0.8 percent).

Meanwhile, production of capital goods and intermediate goods dropped by 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, said the statement.

The EU28's increase is also due to the rises of production energy (1.3 percent), durable consumer goods (1.3), non-durable consumer goods (0.8); production of intermediate goods and capital goods saw declines of 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent.

"Among the Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in industrial production were registered in Estonia (4.1 percent), Portugal (3.7 percent) and Greece (2.6 percent), and the largest decreases in Ireland (7.0 percent), Croatia (4.3 percent) and Latvia (3.5 percent)," the statement said.

- Annual comparison

Eurostat also said industrial production had increased by 3 percent both in the eurozone and the EU28 in March, compared with the same month of 2017.

In the euro area, production of energy rose by 8.1 percent, capital goods by 2.7 percent, durable consumer goods by 2.6 percent, non-durable consumer goods by 1.8 percent and intermediate goods by 1.6 percent, year-on-year in March.

Meanwhile, the EU 28's production of energy rose by 7.9 percent, capital goods by 3.5 percent, durable consumer goods by 2.6 percent, intermediate goods by 1.4 percent, and non-durable consumer goods by 1.2 percent.

Lithuania, Estonia and Finland registered the highest increases with 11.5 percent, 7.6 percent and 7 percent, respectively, while Ireland, Malta and Slovakia suffered the biggest declines with 14.7 percent, 3.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

- GDP up in EA19 and EU28

Eurostat's flash estimate showed that both EA19 and EU28's GDP rose by 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2018, versus the same quarter of last year, it announced on Tuesday.

In the last quarter of 2017, GDP had grown by 0.7 percent in the euro area and by 0.6 percent in the EU28.

"Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 2.5 percent in the euro area and by 2.4 percent in the EU28 in the first quarter of 2018, after 2.8 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, in the previous quarter," Eurostat added.