By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – The European Union saw an annual fall of 2.7 percent in industrial production in the last month of 2018, the statistical office of the EU announced on Wednesday.
According to Eurostat, calendar adjusted production index for total industry stood at 101.1 in December last year, as the index was 103.9 in the same month of the previous year.
“In the EU28, production of capital goods fell by 4.2 percent, intermediate goods by 3.2 percent, durable consumer goods by 2.9 percent, energy by 1.5 percent and non-durable consumer goods by 0.2 percent, ” it said.
On a yearly basis, the biggest drops in industrial production were seen in Ireland (down 19.8 percent), Spain (down 6.7 percent) and Croatia with a 6.6-percent fall.
“The highest increases were observed in Denmark (up 14.3 percent), Hungary (up 5.8 percent) and Estonia (up 5.7 percent), ” Eurostat said.
In the same period, the euro area also saw a fall in industrial production — going down 4.2 percent. The index was 98.6 in December.
The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency — euro — while the EU28 includes all member countries of the bloc.
“The average industrial production for the year 2018, compared with 2017, rose by 1.1 percent in the euro area and by 1.3 percent in the EU28, ” the statistical office added.
