Industrial production in the A.C. of the Basque Country in April 2004 grew by 2.6%, in absolute terms, in relation to the same month of 2003, according to EUSTAT data. In homogenous terms, the inter-annual variation was 2.7%. Accumulated growth for the first four months of the year came to 3.5% in absolute terms, with regard to the same period of last year, and a 2.8% increase in terms adjusted for inter-annual comparability.

In April 2004, the most positive inter-annual variations, in absolute terms, corresponded to the sectors of "Electric energy, gas and water" (19.0%), "Electric material" (13.1%), "Food industry" (10.3%), "Oil refining" (9.0%) and "Textiles and clothing" (8.4%). By contrast, the sectors to undergo the most negative inter-annual rates were "Non- metal industry" (-11.3%), "Leather and footwear industry" (-6.1%), "Other manufactured" (-5.9%), "Paper, printing and graphic arts” (-3.6%) and "Metallurgy and metal articles" (-2.3%).

Over the period of the first four months of the year, the highest growth rates, compared to the same period of 2003, corresponded to "Oil refining" (35.8%), "Electric energy, gas and water" (25.7%), "Electric material" (6.1%), "Textiles and clothing" (5.2%) and "Rubber and plastic" (4.3%). On the other hand, the sectors to suffer the most negative quarterly rates were "Leather and footwear industry" (-14.9%), "Non-metal industry" (-7.1%), "Other manufactured" (-6.4%) and "Metal and non-metal minerals" (-5.6%).

According to the new classification of goods by economic destination, April 2004 saw a notable increase for the inter-annual rate of the Energy branch (16.1%); there was also an increase, albeit more modest, in Consumer Non-durable Goods (5.9%), Capital Goods (1.5%) and Intermediate Goods (0.6%). The only decrease was for Consumer Durable Goods, whose rate fell by 2.1%.

For the four month period as a whole, in comparison with the same period of last year, the Energy branch accumulated 28.3% growth, Intermediate Goods obtained a 2.4% increase, while Capital Goods rose by 0.1%. Consumer Goods fell by 1.8%, divided into Consumer Durable Goods and Consumer Non-durable Goods, with –4.2% and –0.6% respectively.

By province, the inter-annual evolution of the General Index showed differing patterns, growing 10.3%, in absolute terms, in Alava and 2.5% in Gipuzkoa, but falling 1.0% in Bizkaia. Over the first four months of 2004 as a whole, the highest rates of accumulated growth corresponded to Alava with 5.7%, second came Gipuzkoa with 3.8% and finally, Bizkaia obtained growth of 2.1%.