HELSINKI: Finland’s industrial production declined at a faster pace in January, figures from Statistics Finland showed Tuesday.
Industrial production fell a working-day-adjusted 3.9 percent year-on-year in January, much faster than December’s 0.1 percent slight drop.
Production has been falling since January 2013 and the latest decline was the highest since June last year, when it dropped 4.0 percent.
Manufacturing output dropped 3.3 percent annually in January and mining and quarrying production plunged by 17.2 percent. Meanwhile, production in the electrical and electronics industry logged an increase of 6.9 percent.
On a monthly basis, industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent at the start of the year, in contrast to a 0.3 percent increase in December.
The capacity utilization rate in the manufacturing sector climbed to 79.3 percent in January from 78.0 percent from a year ago.
Separately, the statistical office announced that manufacturing new orders slid 2.5 percent yearly in January, reversing a 15.1 percent jump in the preceding month. It was the first decline in seven months.
Orders in the metal industry dropped 5.3 percent in January from the previous year, while chemical industry orders grew by 2.5 percent.
