Industrial production in the euro area chalked up a record rise of 12.4% in May, after falls of 18.2% in April and 11.8% in March. However, the figure was still 20.9% below the level recorded in May 2019, according to data published by the EU’s statistics office Eurostat.
In the whole of the EU, industrial production recorded growth of 11.4% in May in comparison with the previous month when it fell by 18.2%. Year-on- year, EU industrial production was 20.5% lower in May compared to a year earlier.
Compared with April, the production of durable consumer goods rose by 54.2% in the euro area and by 47.7% in the EU. The production of capital goods increased by 25.4% in the euro area and by 24.8% in the EU, whilst the production of intermediate goods grew by 10% amongst the 19 and 8.7% amongst the 27. Non-durable consumer goods output rose by 2.8% and 1.8%, respectively.
Amongst the EU countries, the greatest monthly increases in industrial production were recorded in Italy with 42.1%, ahead of France with 20% and Slovakia with 19.6%. The most significant declines in May were observed in Ireland (-9.8%), Croatia (-3.5%) and Finland (-1.3%).
In the case of Spain, industrial production rebounded 15.1% in May after declines of 22.8% in April and 13.5% in March. The figure was still 24.9% lower than in May 2019.
