According to the report from Eurostat, in April, eurozone industrial production fell by 2.4%, offsetting the March increase (+2.4%, revised from +2.6%). This was the strongest drop since July 2023. Economists had expected a decline of 1.7%.
In annual terms, industrial production increased by 0.8% after rising by 3.7% in March (revised from 3.6%). This was the third increase in a row, but the weakest in this series. Consensus estimates suggested growth of 1.4%. Meanwhile, among the countries of the European Union, industrial production fell by 1.8% on a monthly basis and grew by 0.6% per year.
Eurostat reported that compared with March, industrial production in the eurozone decreased for intermediate goods (-0.7%), energy (-1.6%), capital goods (-1.1%), durable consumer goods (-0.2%) and for non-durable consumer goods (-3.0%).
Meanwhile, the growth of industrial production in the eurozone compared to April 2024 was caused by non-durable consumer goods (+6.1%). A decrease in industrial production was recorded for intermediate goods (-1.0%), energy (-0.1%) and for capital goods (-0.6%). Meanwhile, industrial production remained stable for durable consumer goods.
Among Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases were recorded in Ireland (+18.4%), Finland (+10.2%) and Croatia (+6.5%). The largest decreases were observed in Denmark (-11.6%), Bulgaria (-10.5%) and Slovenia (-4.6%).