In February, the volume of industrial production decreased

News
Posted on 31 March 2016, 11:00
According to Statistics Estonia, in February 2016, the production of industrial enterprises decreased 2% compared to February of the previous year. Production decreased in electricity and mining, while the production of manufacturing increased.

In February, manufacturing production increased 1% compared to February of the previous year. The growth in production was mostly caused by an increase in the manufacture of wood products, electrical equipment and furniture. The production growth was broad-based – production surpassed the volume of the previous year in three-fourths of the branches of industry. Among the branches of industry holding larger shares, production continued to fall in the manufacture of electronic, metal and food products.

71% of the whole production of manufacturing was sold on the external market in February. Compared to February 2015, the export sales of manufacturing production rose 2% and domestic sales 4% according to unadjusted data.

In February 2016 compared to January, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production remained on the level of the previous month; production in manufacturing rose by 5%.

Compared to February 2015, the production of electricity decreased by 20% and the production of heat increased by 2%. The decline in electricity generation was caused by the partial replacement of own production with cheaper imports.

Diagram: Volume index of production in manufacturing and its trend

Change in volume index of industrial production, February 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 -0.3 -1.0 -1.7
Energy production -20.9 -12.0 -12.2
Mining 2.7 -18.6 -19.1
Manufacturing 4.7 2.2 1.4
manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products 4.7 -12.2 -13.0
manufacture of wood and wood products 2.6 5.9 5.2
manufacture of food products 1.3 -0.6 -1.1
manufacture of fabricated metal products -2.6 -4.7 -5.6
manufacture of electrical equipment 8.3 13.9 12.7
manufacture of chemicals and chemical products 1.9 18.5 17.5
manufacture of furniture 4.7 13.8 12.6
manufacture of motor vehicles 4.3 15.1 14.3
manufacture of building materials 10.7 13.3 12.5
manufacture of machinery and equipment -2.9 2.1 1.1

a In 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.

b In 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 15.03.2016, and “Energy production, sales and fuel consumption”, the submission date of which was 10.03.2016. Statistics Estonia published the monthly overview in ten working days.