Industrial activity in the A.C. of the Basque Country in October 2003 decreased 0.1% in relation to the same month of 2002 in absolute terms, according to EUSTAT data. In homogenous terms of the working calendar, the inter-annual variation showed a 0.4% fall. The accumulate growth rate for the first ten months of the year, in relation to the same period of last year showed 1.1% growth in absolute terms and 0.7% in homogenous terms of the working calendar.

(*) Inter-annual growth corrected for October 2003

Source: EUSTAT

In October 2003 the most positive inter-annual variations, in absolute terms, were in the sectors of “Oil refining” (35.0%), "Textiles and clothing" (17.2%), " Food industry" (10.4%), "Timber industry" (4.1%) and "Electric material" (3.6%).

The sectors with the most negative inter-annual growth were "Electric energy, gas and water" (-9.5%), "Transport material" (-8.2%), "Non-metal industry" (-6.3%) "Leather and footwear industry" (-5.6%) and "Other manufactured" (-3.6%).

By economic destination of goods, October 2003 saw a rise in the inter-annual rates of Consumer Goods (1.4%), although rates fell in the case of Intermediate Goods (-0.8%) and Capital Goods (-4.7%).

In the first ten months of the year, the greatest accumulate growth in absolute terms corresponded to the sectors “Oil refining” (22.0%), "Textiles and clothing" (8.1%), "Rubber and plastic" (6.1%) and "Electric material" (5.4%).

By contrast the most negative accumulate rates were those in "Leather and footwear industry" (-12.0%), "Other manufactured" (-4.5%), "Non-metal industry" (-1.3%) and "Paper, printing and graphic arts" (-0.7%).

Accumulate variations in the first ten months of the year showed growth for Intermediate Goods (1.8%), but not so for Consumer Goods or Capital Goods which decreased 2.1% and 1.1% respectively.

By province, the October index reflected inter-annual growth in Gipuzkoa (2.7%); however, the index decreased 1.0% in the province of Alava and 2.2% in Bizkaia. Over the first ten months of the year as a whole Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa registered accumulate increases of 1.2% and 1.8% respectively, while Alava registered a slight decrease of 0.5% in relation to the same period of last year.

Table: OCTOBER 2003. Variation rates (%) of the Industrial Price Index of the A.C. of the Basque Country

(*) corrected for working days

Source: EUSTAT