BRUSSELS: The industrial production in 19-country Eurozone got out of negative territory and gained upward momentum in October compared with the previous month, official data showed on Monday.
The seasonally adjusted industrial production increased by 0.6 percent in the single currency bloc in October, a welcome reading revising its previous worrying fall. In September, the figure was negative 0.3 percent, according to Eurostat, the statistic office of the European Union (EU).
October’s increase was due to production of durable consumer goods rising by 1.8 percent, capital goods by 1.4 percent, energy by 0.6 percent and nondurable consumer goods by 0.4 percent, while production of intermediate goods fell by 0.1 percent, said Eurostat.
It masked wide variations between member states. The highest increases of October’s industrial production were registered in Lithuania with 11.3 percent, the Netherlands with 4.3 percent and Portugal with 3.9 percent. Debt-torn Greece, however, witnessed biggest decrease by 1.2 percent while both Denmark and Finland followed, felling by 0.9 percent.
In the wider 28-country EU, the industrial production rose by 0.5 percent month-on-month in October. In September, the reading remained stable, said Eurostat.
“October’s rise in euro-zone industrial production provides an early indication that the sector will have a solid fourth quarter, adding to evidence that the region’s recovery may have regained some pace at the end of 2015,” said Jessica Hinds, European economist of Capital Economics.
