Data published by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) showed that industrial production fell by 2.1% in June after falling by 1.1% in May. Economists had expected a decline by only 0.2%. On average, over the past three months, industrial production has grown by 1.2%.
ISTAT reported that energy production increased by 1.9% compared to May, while production in the capital goods sector fell by 3.3%. A drop in production was also recorded in the consumer goods sector (-2.1%) and the intermediate goods sector (-1.3%).
In annual terms, industrial production decreased by 1.2%, partially offsetting the 3.4% increase in May. Consensus estimates suggested an increase by 2.9%. The unadjusted industrial production index decreased by 1.2% compared with June 2021.
Production in the energy sector increased by 2.7% per annum, while production in the consumer goods sector increased by 2.6% per annum. On the other hand, production in the intermediate goods sector and the capital goods sector fell by 2.1% and 4.3%, respectively.