Industrial production fell 4.2% in the A.C. of the Basque Country in April 2003 with regard to the same month in 2002, as this year had two working days less than the previous year, according to EUSTAT data. Once the effect of the working calendar is corrected, in order to compare data in homogeneous terms, the inter-annual rate for April reflects a positive variation of 3.9%.

With this data, the accumulated rate for the first four months of the year, in relation to the same period the year before, showed 1.4% growth in absolute terms and 1.2% in homogeneous terms of the working calendar.

In April 2003, the most positive inter-annual variations, in homogeneous terms, corresponded to the sectors of "Metal and non-metal minerals", "Textiles and clothing" and "Oil refining" with rates above 20%, "Electric material" (12.9%), "Rubber and plastic" (11.5%) and “Non-metal industry" (10.5%).

The sectors that experienced negative inter-annual growth rates were "Leather and footwear industry" (-10.8%), "Food industry" (-5,0%), "Machinery" (-3.7%), "Other manufactured" (-3.2%) and “Timber industry” (-2.8%).

According to the economic destination of goods, the inter-annual rate grew in April 2003, in homogeneous terms, for Intermediate Goods (5.0%), but there were inter-annual decreases in the rates of Consumer Goods (-1.2%) y and Capital Goods (-0.2%).

Over the first four months of the year, the highest accumulated increases, in homogeneous terms, corresponded to the sectors "Textiles and clothing" (6.5%), "Rubber and plastic” (6.1%), "Electric material" (6.0%) and "Transport material" (5.3%).

More negative accumulated rates, however, corresponded to "Leather and footwear industry" (-15.8%), "Other manufactured" (-8.7%), "Food industry" (-3.6%) and "Oil refining" (-2.0%).

Accumulated variations over the first four months presented growth for Intermediate Goods (2.4%) and Capital Goods (0.5%), but not for Consumer Goods, which fell by 2.6%.

By Province, the performance in the whole of the four months was positive, with more moderate growth in Alava (0.4%) and Gipuzkoa (0.6%), Bizkaia being the only province that registered a higher growth rate (2.1%).