BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone industrial production declined broadly in line with expectations in September, wiping out a rise in August as output of consumer goods dropped sharply in the month.
The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday that industrial production in the 20 countries sharing the euro fell by 1.1% month-on-month in September for a 6.9% year-on-year decline.
The latter was the steepest drop since June 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected declines of 1.0% month-on-month and 6.3% from a year earlier.
The month-on-month fall was chiefly the result of 2.1% decline of durable and non-durable consumer goods, along with a 1.3% drop of energy output.
Production of intermediate goods, such as steel or wood, declined by 0.3%, while output of capital goods, such as machinery, rose by 0.3%.
Eurostat also published data on euro zone trade, showing that the bloc achieved a 10 billion euro surplus in September, against a 36.6 billion euro deficit a year earlier, when EU countries were forced to pay far higher prices for energy.
Adjusted for seasonal swings, the euro zone recorded a trade surplus for the fifth consecutive month – of 9.2 billion euros against 11.1 billion euros in August.
For Eurostat release, click on:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/news/euro-indicators
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, editing by Bart Meijer)