In January, the volume of industrial production remained on the level of the previous year

News
Posted on 4 March 2016, 10:00
According to Statistics Estonia, in January 2016, the production of industrial enterprises remained on the same level compared to January of the previous year. Production decreased in producing of manufacturing and mining, however the production in electricity increased.

In January, the decrease in manufacturing was 2% compared to January of the previous year. The decline in production was mostly caused by a decrease in the manufacture of electronic and metal products. Among the branches of industry holding larger shares, production fell also in the manufacture of food and building materials. The production decline was not broad-based – production surpassed the volume of the previous year in more than a half of the branches of industry. Although in some of the branches of industry that hold larger shares (the manufacture of wood and chemical products, machinery and equipment, furniture and motor vehicles) production rose, it did not compensate for the fall in other branches.

70% of the whole production of manufacturing was sold on the external market in January. Compared to January 2015, the export sales of manufacturing production fell 11% and domestic sales 2% according to unadjusted data. The decrease in exports was mainly caused by a drop in the sales of electronic products.

In January 2016 compared to December 2015, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production increased 5%, production in manufacturing rose by 1%.

Compared to January 2015, the production of electricity increased by 11% and the production of heat by 25%. The growth in production was caused by the increase in energy consumption due to colder outside temperatures compared to the previous year.

Diagram: Volume index of production in manufacturing and its trend

Change in volume index of industrial production, January 2016
(percentages)
Economic activity Change compared to the previous month according to seasonally adjusted dataa Change compared to the corresponding month of the previous year
according to unadjusted data according to working-day adjusted datab
TOTAL 4.9 -2.6 -0.2
Energy production 31.4 16.1 17.4
Mining -10.1 -26.9 -25.4
Manufacturing 1.4 -4.4 -1.7
manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products -2.6 -23.7 -21.5
manufacture of wood and wood products 0.3 3.7 6.2
manufacture of food products -3.8 -2.2 -0.4
manufacture of fabricated metal products 1.7 -10.6 -7.4
manufacture of electrical equipment -6.1 -3.2 0.5
manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 16.0 7.7 10.8
manufacture of furniture 2.4 0.7 4.4
manufacture of motor vehicles 2.8 7.8 10.5
manufacture of building materials -1.1 -3.1 -0.7
manufacture of machinery and equipment 9.5 15.5 19.4

aIn the case of the seasonally adjusted volume index of industrial production, the impact of the differing number of working days in a month and seasonally recurring factors have been eliminated. It is calculated only in comparison with the previous period.

bIn the case of the working-day adjusted volume index of industrial production, the impact of the differing number of working days in a month has been eliminated. It is calculated only in comparison with the corresponding period of the previous year.

The statistics are based on the questionnaires “Industry”, the submission date of which was 15.02.2016, and “Energy production, sales and fuel consumption”, the submission date of which was 10.02.2016. Statistics Estonia published the monthly overview in thirteen working days.