Industrial production in the euro area returned to growth in January

After a month-on-month decline in December, industrial production in the euro area returned to growth earlier this year. Better results were also recorded by the entire European Union, which also showed growth in industrial production in January, while it stagnated in December. This was pointed out by data published on Friday by the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat. Seasonally adjusted industrial production in the euro area rose by 0.8% month on month in January and by 0.7% in the European Union as a whole. It fell by 0.1% in the currency bloc in December and stagnated in the EU. Year-on-year, industrial production in the euro area increased by 0.1% in January. In the wider EU, growth reached 0.3%. The month-on-month development of industrial production in the euro area was most marked by the production of consumer durables. It increased by 0.8%. The production of non-durable goods also grew significantly, by 0.6%. In the year-on-year comparison, the most significant growth was recorded in the production of intermediate goods and durable goods. In the first case, growth reached 1.8%, in the second 1.6%. Of the individual EU Member States, industrial production increased the most month-on-month in January (3.8%), Greece and France (both by 3.4%) and Belgium, where growth reached 3.1%. It also grew in Slovakia, by 0.7%. On the contrary, the most significant decreases were recorded in Estonia and Latvia, where in both cases industrial production fell by 1.5%. They were followed by Portugal with a decrease of 1.3% and Spain, where industrial production fell by 0.7%. Compared to January last year, industrial production increased the most in Ireland (27.5%), Lithuania (11.8%) and Poland (5.6%). The largest decreases were recorded in Portugal, Malta and Slovakia. In Portugal, industrial production fell by 6.5%, in Malta by 6.2% and in Slovakia by 4%.